Can't Just Be Friends
by runninequalslife
Summary: After the Lava Springs talent show, Gabriella didn't take Troy back. Now, starting they're senior year, they both still have feelings for each other. Will they be able to put the past behind them and find love? Heavy swearing and some sexual references.
1. Welcome Back!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from High School Musical or Disney**

The white truck slows down to a stop. A hand slowly turns the ignition off and runs its hands through its owner's brown hair. The bright blue eyes stare off into the front doors of East High. He was stalling, trying to find every excuse not to walk through the doors to start the first day of school. It wasn't like there was anything being nervous about, but it seemed that he still had those butterflies in his stomach that he had on the very first day of high school freshman year. Now, it was his first day of senior year, and he still felt like that small little freshman that he was three years ago. But so much had changed since then. More then he asked for.

Troy Bolton lets out a huge sigh. Maybe he was nervous because it was his last chance to experience high school before heading off to the real world. Maybe it was the last time he would be able to hang out with his friends, or play basketball on the same team as them. Maybe it was still the small lingering thought about his future. Troy quickly shook that thought away though. Last time the thought too much about that subject, all it did was loose part of himself and his heart.

Troy felt his stomach drop. Maybe that's why he was so nervous. It would be the first time in a half of year that Troy would be walking into the school without having her hand in his. He felt a shiver go down his back even though it was about 85 degrees out. 'Damn it, why didn't you take me back?' He thinks to himself. His bright blue eyes shut tightly, almost as though to shut out the pain. Big mistake. As soon as he did, he saw her image that was branded into his mind.

The eyelids rip back open. It was hard enough trying to get by when she was all he thought about. But what made it harder was the fact that she was one of his best friends and he saw her all the time. Slowly, Troy unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out of the car, thinking it's now or never.

The still summer sun blazes down upon Troy with fury. He could feel his black track jacket, red Wildcats t-shirt, and blue jeans stick to him already. How badly he wanted to be out making the most of this weather by playing basketball with his friends. But the summer was over and Troy had to face reality weather he wanted to or not. He was about to begin his senior year.

Almost as soon as he set one foot on the front steps, he was swarmed with about five people. "Hey Troy.", "How was your summer?", "I bet you can't wait for the basketball season to start." These were just a few of the many greetings thrown at him. Troy just tried to nod and smile, he was used to it by now though.

"Hey, Troy!" A familiar voice sticks out about all the rest. A smile creeps onto Troy's face as he looks up at this dark skinned, big haired, best friend standing at the top of the steps. Instantly, Troy sprints up the steps and did he's and Chad's handshake. He smiles and walks with Chad into the front doors of East High.

"Man you'd think you were Shaquille O'Neal or something." Chad nods toward the group that was just staked out in front of Troy. Troy laughs and shakes his head. "You know, it feels more like hell instead of school to me." Chad jokes and looks around the entrance.

Troy laughs again and nods in agreement. They reflexively start heading off to their lockers. Chad starts rambling about how they need to start practicing if they want back to back championships. But Troy wasn't listening. He was scanning heads, faces for the one special one. But he was unsuccessful. What he did find though was that every girl he looked at give him a smile, a wink or blushed.

They stop early to see a blonde standing in front of his locker. Troy took in the sight as he saw Ryan Evens wearing a white polo, black pants and a black hat to match. What he didn't see was the usual twin sister that was normally standing next to him.

"Hey Evans!" Chad greets their friend and smiles.

"Hey Chad, hi Troy." Ryan responds and reaches back to grab a book from his locker. "It took forever for me to get up this morning."

"Yea, I think I hit the snooze about four times wishing it was just a dream." Chad agrees. "Where's your sister?"

Ryan rolls his eyes. "Now that was a dumb question. She's with Zeke, as usual. You know she never shuts up about him! It drives me crazy! But I guess it's better than how she was before."

Troy nods in agreement. Though still the same selfish girl, she wasn't as bad as how she was when she broke him and his love up. Sharpay still had her drama friends, and her obnoxious way of thinking she's better than everyone else. But now that she was going out with Zeke, she seemed to have mellowed out a bit. She wasn't the same girl who would have done anything to get him at the beginning of the summer.

"So Troy…" Ryan turns to him snapping him out of his trance. "The fall musical tryouts are next week. Are you going to follow up a great performance in the winter musical?"

Troy's stomach dropped again. He had, indeed, thought about it. But not because he was an inspiring actor or singer. It was for another more important reason.

"I'm not sure…" Troy says while rubbing the back of his neck, a habit he did when he was nervous. "Maybe I'll just watch you and Sharpay."

"Oh come on now." Ryan says and shakes his head. "Well, it's your choice I guess. But we'll be looking for you"

Troy nods his head and looks at the clock, telling Chad that they need to get going if they don't want to miss homeroom on the first day. The two wave to Ryan, get their books from their lockers and head off to homeroom. When they get inside, they put their stuff down in the second row next to each other.

"Where's your girlfriend anyways?" Troy asks Chad.

"Picking up Gabs on the way. You know girls, they have to look so damn perfect." He says with an eye roll.

"Well we only do it for you." A dark girl with dark hair, wearing a green headband in her hair to match her shirt says as she pops up next to Chad. Troy watches as his best friend smiles and kisses his girlfriend Taylor. "Hey Troy." She says and he nods at her. But if Taylor was here, then that meant…

Suddenly, the air in the room becomes very different. All noise is drawn out from the rest of the world. It was almost as though time itself had stopped. Troy slowly turns around to face the door and feels his jaw drop about five feet.

Standing at the doorway could only be a dream. Her long dark chocolate colored hair was curled slightly so it reached just below her shoulders. Her face glowed with her black eyeliner and brown eye shadow blended on her eyelids. Her lips shined with lip gloss which made them irresistible. She slowly starts to walk in the room. She was wearing a long orange tank top that cut into a V revealing her cleavage. A silver, circular necklace hung low from her neck. She was wearing dark jeans with silver ballet flats.

To make it simple, she was gorgeous.

Troy watches as his ex-girlfriend walks toward him and smiles. She seemed so beautiful; it was almost as if he was seeing her for the first time ever. But of course, this was not true; he had just seen her two days ago.

"Hey Troy." She greets him with a shy, but smooth voice. For one of the rare times in his life, he was a loss for words. It was as if someone sucked out the voice from him and would never give it back. He felt someone disconnected from his body, daydreaming about things he probably should have been thinking about.

Finally, Troy shakes his head slightly to clear his mind and smiles back. "Uh, hey Gabriella." He finally manages to get out. 'That's the best you got?' Troy thought to himself about his nonromantic greeting. She continues to smile at him and giggles a little. Was that a good laugh or a bad one? Walking closer to him, he could smell the faint scent of her perfume, making him want her even more. "You look incredible."

Gabriella shyly smiles again and blushes. "Thank you. You don't look bad yourself." It was hard for Troy to resist putting a hand on her cheek or through her hair. He wanted so desperately to touch her. His bright blue eyes met her deep brown. At that moment, everything else around him froze. It was just the two of them, lost in their own world.

"Mr. Bolton, Miss Montez! Would you please sit down?!" A dreamy voice fills the room and Troy finally tore his eyes away from Gabriella's. He saw her blush slightly before looking around to see everyone else had sat down in their seats and were staring up at the two. Troy watches as Gabriella quickly rushes over to sit down on next to Taylor. "Mr. Bolton!"

Troy realized he was still standing and quickly sat down next to Chad. He looked up at his homeroom teacher, who was also the drama teacher, Ms. Darbus. A small chuckle left his mouth as he noticed that Ms. Darbus was in her usual exotic clothing (mainly consisting of satin and bright colors) that matched her personality.

"Well, now that everyone is settled, welcome back!" She greets and everyone groans. "I hope you had a refreshing summer but now it's time to put out thinking caps back on and enjoy the wonders of learning. Now some reminders; first, no cell phones. It your late to class it will be a detention. No bringing objects that don't have to deal with learning in the class." She glared at Chad who was holding an orange basketball in his hand. He quickly put it under his desk and Ms. Darbus rolls her eyes. "Also, some announcements. The auditions for the fall music_ale _will be held on Monday. Anyone who wants to broaden their theater talents may audition at that time."

Troy shot his head around to look at Gabriella who was also staring at him. A smiles forms on his lips as he remembers the last musical they starred in. He watches as she smiles back and looks away from him blushing.

"Now, does anyone have any questions?" Ms. Darbus looks around to find a single hand rose. It was one of Troy's best friends, who was also on the basketball team, Jason.

"So how was your summer Ms. Darbus?" Everyone groans and looks at him.

"Well, now that you asked, this summer I went to New York to watch a Broadway performance and…"

Troy looked over at the window in the classroom and stared out it, trying to keep his gaze away from Gabriella. He felt like they connected again, even though he had seen her all summer, it was still different being back here. He let his mind wander more until suddenly, a ringing echo in his ears. He looks up to find Chad standing in front of him. "Dude, are you coming?"

Troy shakes his head to clear the thoughts he was having and stood up. "Yea, sorry, I must have zoned out there." He picks up his books and walks out the door with Chad.

"Man, I don't know if I can stand Darbus for another year. My goal this year is to survive her class, and of course get back to back championships." Chad adds in and Troy nods. "What's yours?"

Troy's eyes wander and find a figure standing down the hall, talking with Taylor. A smile comes back onto his face and he looks at his best friend again.

"Get Gabriella back."


	2. Always Wanting You

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Disney or High School Musical**

Gabriella's eyes were fixed onto the back of his head. She watches as he brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck and shakes his head, letting his chestnut brown hair move slightly. He shifts positions in his seat, which these three signs showed her he's thinking extremely hard or is just nervous. It must have been nerves because she knew how nervous he was that this was his only AP class, and how he wanted to get a decent grade in this class. It was as if she knew so many little details about him, but never could she figure out exactly what he was thinking about.He was a mystery, a mystery she so badly wanted to solve.

Gabriella sighs and finally tears her eyes away from Troy. She was in AP English, which was the only other class she had with him besides homeroom and gym. The teacher, Mrs. Jameson, gave them an essay about what they want to accomplish this year and Gabriella couldn't focus on it. Her mind kept wandering to him. She sighs and looks down at her half written paper again.

Slowly, her hand reaches her pocket and starts to feel around until she finally finds what she was looking for. A small necklace in the shape of a "T" falls into her grasp. It was something she carried around with her, to remind her what was lost, and what she so desperately wanted back. Gabriella's eyes look up at the chestnut brown hair again. She becomes entranced and starts to daydream about him waiting for her after class, taking her hand, and having everything become how it was last year. Slowly, Troy's head turns around and his eyes connect with hers. Embarrassed that he caught her staring, she turns away and blushes, but looks back up to find him grinning at her. Her breath is caught in her throat as he shakes his head playfully and turns back around to look down at his desk.

Shortly after, the bell rings and Gabriella watches as Troy gets up and walks out with the rest of the class. She sighs and picks up her books, knowing that her daydream of Troy waiting her would not com true. "You broke up with him." Gabriella thinks to herself and slowly walks out the door. She turns toward her locker as soon as she steps out the frame and hears a familiar voice come from behind her.

"Hey you." A smile forms onto her lips as she turns around to stare into Troy's bright blue eyes that are staring back at her. She looked at him and took every bit of him in. The way his hair flipped out at the bottom, the way his red shirt and black track jacket brought out how tan he was. But especially the way his eyes shone off in the light. Gabriella knew she could stare into those eyes for ever.

"Hi Troy." She says still smiling. "How was your day so far?"

Gabriella watches as he rolls his eyes. "Oh you know, slow. Man you never really realize how much you miss summer until it's gone." He responds and nods at her. "How about your day?"

She shrugs. "It's been alright. Your right though, it's been so slow." An awkward silence erupts between the two. Gabriella tries to find something to say but they just stand there, trying to look at other places but each other. Finally, Troy laughs and shakes this head.

"Wanna walk to lunch?" He says breaking the ice and Gabriella laughs.

"Of course." She says and they head off to Gabriella's locker, which was down the hall from Troy's. She stops in front of it, does the combination, and then opens the locker to put her books inside.

Troy swings the door open further to look at the pictures she's hung up with red and white magnets. She watches as he smiles and suddenly she becomes slightly embarrassed. Over half of the pictures he's in, and most of the one's he is in, he's holding her hand or has his arms around her. If you wouldn't have known better, you'd think that they were still together. "I like this one." He says out of the blue and Gabriella looks to were he's pointing at. He was pointing to the one they took on the first day of summer, when Chad, Taylor, Troy and Gabriella went to the park to celebrate. Troy was wearing a simple white T-shirt and red basketball shorts and Gabriella was wearing an orange and white sundress. He was carrying her on his back and they were smiling brightly into the camera. It happened before they had ever known they were going to working at the place that separated the two up.

Gabriella nods and agreement. "So do I." She says as she closes her locker and they start walking down towards where Troy's locker stood. He grabs his lock and spins it smoothly, opening it and throwing his books in as if they were a piece of trash. "Wow your locker's plain." She says jokingly.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not a girl and decorate my locker." He jokes and she pretends to look shocked.

"Well, since all you're going to do is make fun of me, I guess I better leave." She says, still pretending to be hurt. Butterflies start to fill her stomach as she realizes that they're flirting.

"Hey, I was just kidding." Troy responds and looks at her questioningly. She smiles and turns around.

Gabriella shakes her head. "Nope, I can see I'm not wanted here." She turns around but stops when she feels Troy's hand grab her wrist, sending sparks from her wrist to her heart from the moment his skin touches hers. She turns around and looks into his crystal blue eyes.

"Gabi, I always want you." Troy says and Gabriella's eyes become wide. One, no one has called her Gabi since her and Troy broke up. And two, the comment he just said makes her blush. She watches as Troy realizes what came out of his mouth and his eyes get wide too. "Around. I always want you around." Gabriella laughs and Troy starts to rub the back of his neck, still not letting go of her wrist.

"Oh Troy, what am I going to do with you?" She jokes and Troy finally lets go of her wrist to grab his lunch from his locker. He shuts it and smirks at her.

"Well I could think of a lot of things…" Troy jokes again and Gabriella slaps his arm. But she turns bright red from the fact that he was still thinking about her in the sexual way.

"Troy Alexander Bolton!" Gabriella scolds and Troy throw his hands up in defense.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that! I'm sorry Gabi. Will you forgive me?" He pleads and looks into Gabriella's eyes, making her melt as she sees the soft blue staring into her brown. God, how she loved his eyes.

"I guess I have to." She says with a flirtatious smile and opens the door to the cafeteria. Noise quickly fills her ears as they walk toward the center table. She looks up at Troy again and smiles but her gaze is turned away from him as she finds a brunette with blond highlights standing in front of the two. The color of her skin looked almost too tan for her body. In other words, Gabriella could tell that she fake baked WAY too often. She was wearing a red cheerleading jacket with a "C" that lied above her heart on the left side.

"Hey Troy." The girl smiled way too flirtatiously for Gabriella's liking. She didn't even acknowledge the fact that there was someone else standing next to Troy.

"Hey Bridget." Troy responds smiling, which Gabriella hoped was just because he was a nice guy. Bridget was the caption of the cheerleading team and was known for a reputation for getting any guy she wanted. "Good summer?"

She nodded, "Yea, I shopped, tanned, and shopped some more… I missed you though!" She adds with a giggle that Gabriella could tell was completely fake. Troy starts to rub the back of his neck again and nods.

"Well great." He says and looks down at Gabriella who returned the gaze. "Well see ya around."

Gabriella watches as Bridget's smile drops slightly but tires to cover it up. "Oh yea, see ya." Troy walks around her and Gabriella stays in her spot, not sure if she should follow suit or find somewhere else to sit. She didn't want Troy to think she was too clingy. She watches as Troy turns around and raises his eyebrow. It was one of the cutest things Gabriella had seen all day.

"Gabi, are you coming?" Smile forms on Gabriella's face as she watches Bridget frown at her. Gabriella walks around the cheerleader and walks over to where Troy is standing at the center table. She sits down next to Troy on her left, Ryan on her right, her friend Martha Cox next to him, Zeke Baylor next to her, Jason Cross next to him, a girl she didn't recognize next to Jason and Chad next to her, who was also sitting next to Troy. The lunches were split into two, red and white. She was in the red lunch, while Taylor and a couple of her other friends where in the white lunch.

"Hey guys." Chad greets the two and looks over to the girl on his left. "This is Chloe; she was in AP Bio with Taylor. Chloe, this is my best friend Troy and one of my other best friends Gabriella. Chloe just moved here."

Gabriella smiles at the girl. She had golden hair that reached about two inches below her shoulders. Her eyes were green and she was a pretty petite girl. She looked shy, but Gabriella was reminded of how shy she was when she first moved here. "Hi Chloe." Chloe gave her a small smile and nodded. "Where did you move here from?"

"Umm I'm from San Diego; my dad's company transferred him here to Albuquerque." She replies softly and Gabriella nods.

"Don't worry, you'll fit right in, I was the new girl last year and it just takes time getting used to. These guys aren't scary. Well, except Chad." Gabriella turns to see Chad throw his hands up in the air in defense.

"Hey, I'm not scary and you know it Montez!" Chad exclaims and looks at Gabriella who was laughing.

"Only when he hasn't eaten within the past hour." Troy says with a smirk and the whole table erupts with laughter. Even Chloe burst out laughing. Gabriella smiles again and looks at Troy. His hand brushes up against her leg underneath the table and she gets the shivers. Suddenly, Gabriella hears an earsplitting shriek coming from behind her.

"ZEKE!" Another blond dressed in all a pink halter and a white skirt runs over to Zeke and throws her arms around his neck from behind. A smile forms on Zeke's face as he looks back to see his girlfriend beaming.

"Hey Sharpay." Gabriella's head shoots around and locks onto Sharpay's face. She feels Troy's body suddenly tense up beside hers as she looks over to find him staring at his lunch. Sure, since Sharpay and Zeke were dating, she had been hanging out more with their group but the truth of the matter was, Gabriella and Sharpay still didn't get along. It wasn't that Gabriella didn't like Sharpay, because she thought she was alright, but she was still extremely bitter from what happened over the summer and how the blond was the reason her and Troy broke up to begin with. "This is Chloe, she's new here."

Sharpay gives a quick hello to Chloe and then turns her attention back to Zeke. "Did you bake the cookies I asked for last night?" She asks and he nods, pulling out a bag of chocolate chip cookies from his lunch.

"I made them just for you." He says and Sharpay then sits on his lap, joining the group. Everyone rolls their eyes at her and Gabriella continues to feel tense Troy next to her. Feeling bold, she reaches over and puts her hand onto his forearm below the table. He immediately begins to relax at her touch and looks over at her with a weak smile. She removes her hand and focuses back onto her lunch, not quite able to look at the blond sitting across from her and feels a pang of pain over what she had caused this summer. 'You broke up with him." She reminds herself again and continues to eat her lunch, in deep thought.


	3. Gym Class

Author's Note: Hey guys, I just wanted to take time to thank everyone for reading this story. This is my first High School Musical fan fiction and I really hope you guys like it so far. It means a lot to me that your reading this. Please leave reviews and let me know what you think!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from High School Musical or Disney cuz if I did, I probably wouldn't be writing this ;)**

Gabriella steps into the girl's locker-room and walks slowly inside. She didn't know any other girl who was in her gym hour, so she walked alone. Gabriella hadn't talked much for the rest of lunch after Sharpay left. It wasn't that she thought Sharpay liked Troy again, but it still hurt her too badly to think about. When they had gone back to their lockers, Troy kept asking Gabriella what was wrong with her. Obviously, she wasn't going to tell him, so she just pretended everything was ok. Now it was the last hour of the day, gym. Slowly making her way around the corner, she stops when she hears the sound of her name fill her ears over the other chatter of girls talking.

"Well with Gabriella out of the way, I think that it's time the school goes back to normal. I mean, it's destined that the basketball caption and the cheerleading caption should date." Gabriella heard Bridget's voice fill the locker room. She stays behind the wall so Bridget doesn't see her.

"I don't know Bridge, I saw them in the hall right before lunch and they looked pretty cozy to me. Whatever happened between them this summer, it doesn't look like it really affected them too much." Gabriella heard another voice speak and smiled to herself.

"Please…" Gabriella could imagine Bridget rolling her dark brown eyes. "I heard that he broke up with her because she wasn't 'satisfying' his needs. I always knew she was prude."

Gabriella's mouth drops. Prude? She wasn't satisfying his needs? She broke up with him! And it had nothing to do with sex! "I don't think so Bridge, I heard she broke up with him because he was hanging around Sharpay too much and wasn't treating his friends well. I heard Sharpay talk about it to someone in drama today. It sounded like she sorta felt bad about it." Gabriella felt a small swell of thankfulness for Sharpay. But that ended almost as quickly as it started.

"I doubt it. I bet Sharpay just didn't want to give details. I bet Troy got sick of not getting anywhere with Gabriella and slept with Sharpay. It would make more sense." Not being able to take it any longer, Gabriella turned the corner and made eye contact with Bridget. The other girl's chatter dies down suddenly and everyone stares as the two glares at each other. Gabriella walks toward Bridget, giving her the dirtiest look she could possibly get onto her face.

"For the record, I broke up with him. And who ever told you it was over sex should get their facts straight, cuz it wasn't." She spits out with as much anger as she could possibly manage. Gabriella watches as Bridget turns bright red and spins away from her. Gabriella walks toward the back of the locker room as the chatter of girls talking fills up again. She goes behind a wall of lockers to find a bunch of girls looking at her. Girls she recognized as other members of the cheerleading team.

"Don't worry about Bridget Gabriella." One of them, her name was Shannon and Gabriella was friends with her, says and the rest of them nod. "No one really believes anything she says. I don't even know how she became caption anyways." About four other cheerleaders nod in agreement and Gabriella gives them a smile showing her thanks. "It's about time someone stands up to her."

Gabriella smiles again in thanks and opens an empty locker and begins to change into her gym clothes. Suddenly, she hears her name again. "Gabriella!"

Gabriella looks up to see a blond walking toward her. She smiles as she recognizes her and waves. "Hey Chloe!"

Chloe walks up to Gabriella and smiles still shyly. "I didn't think anyone I knew was going to be in my gym hour. I'm so happy you are though!" She smiles brightly and looks over to the empty locker on Gabriella's left, since the right side was taken by Shannon. "Is anyone putting they're locker here?"

Gabriella smiles and nods. "Yea, you are!" They laugh and finish changing. The two girls, Shannon and the other four cheerleaders leave Bridget and her other two friends who were in front of the mirror, putting on lip gloss, inside the locker-room.

"Who puts lip gloss on for gym?" Chloe asks Gabriella and Gabriella laughs. The two spot Chad and Troy on the other side of the gym, shooting baskets.

"I guess there's a benefit to be the son of a gym teacher here, you can pull out all the basketballs you want and no one cares." Gabriella says and notices that neither Troy's dad nor any of the other gym teachers are out. The other guys in the class were watching the two with awe as Troy makes a three-pointer leaving nothing but net. "Come on." She says to Chloe and the two walk away from the group of girls. Gabriella quietly sneaks up behind Troy, who was facing the net. She quickly grabs his shoulders and jumps onto his back, leaving him surprised but he immediately throws his arms back to catch her legs. Gabriella watches as Chad and Chloe laugh at the fact that Troy was giving Gabriella a piggyback ride.

"Guess who?!" She whispers in his ear and he laughs. She puts her hands over his eyes as if to blind him.

"Damn Chad, you lost a lot of weight." Troy jokes and Gabriella slaps his arm. "Oh it's just you you." He says as though annoyed and Gabriella slaps his arm again.

"Fine, then put me down." She orders and tries to squirm out of his grasp. Troy shakes his head in disagreement.

"Nah, I wanna watch you squirm first." He says and starts to run around the gym. Gabriella lets out a soft scream and grips his neck tightly. After running about two laps around, Troy finally returns back to where Chad and Chloe were standing before, but had disappeared for some reason.

"Bolton! Montez! Come on and join the party over here!" A loud, deep, but kind voice echoes in the gym. Troy spins around and Gabriella sees an extremely tall, muscular man standing in the middle of the gym. He was tan and holding a clipboard. Gabriella remembers him as her gym teacher last year. She also remembers his name was Mr. Guerrero and he was the coach of the JV basketball team, which is probably why he knew Troy's name. Lucky for Gabriella, she was one of his favorite students from last year. Troy gently lets Gabriella down off of his back and jogs over to wear the rest of the class was sitting. Gabriella smirks slightly as she watches Bridget glare at her. Troy sits down next to Chad and Gabriella sits in front of him sitting next to Chloe.

"Good afternoon everyone. I hope has had a good first day of school." A groan echoes from where the class was sitting on the bleachers. "Anyways, welcome to Phy Ed. 12. Most of you by now should know what Physical Education is about, but I have to go over the rules with you anyways. Rule one, no gum while participating…"

"Troy!" A whisper rings from Gabriella's right. She turns her head to find the source of it and finds Bridget waving her fingers at Gabriella's ex. Gabriella sits up intently and looks back to see Troy nod in Bridget's direction, but then looks down at Gabriella and smiles. It may have been her imagination, but Gabriella swore she heard and angry "hmmph" in Bridget's direction. Gabriella turns back around to look at Mr. Guerrero again. Suddenly, she feels hands come down to her waist and begin to tickle her. She starts to squirm and slaps Troy's hands away from her sides.

She suddenly feels hot breath in her ear which gives her the shivers. "I told you I like to watch you squirm." Troy says seductively and Gabriella shivers once again. She silently tells her body to calm down, because he had just driven her crazy.

"Alright, any questions?" Mr. Guerrero asks, bringing Gabriella back to earth. She realized that she hadn't paid attention to a word he had said the whole time. "No? Alright, good. Since we only have about twenty minutes left, you guys are can have open gym."

With that, Gabriella feels the bleachers shake as Troy and Chad run out from behind her to go grab the basketballs. The rest of the guys follow and they quickly form a game. All of the girls move to the center of the bleachers to watch the guys. Bridget and her two friends, Jackie and Alexia, moved off to their own corner whispering. Chloe turns to Gabriella. "So how long have you and Troy been dating?"

Not expecting a question like that, Gabriella becomes at a loss for words. "Ummm, Troy and I aren't dating. We're just friends…"

"Oh, god I'm so sorry!" Chloe apologizes covering her mouth. "I just assumed, cuz you guys were so close and it just seemed like… god I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry Chloe, it's an honest mistake." Shannon responds and smiles at Gabriella. "They act like it anyways. They dated last year and we're just waiting for them to get back together again." Gabriella feels herself blush and turn away. Did she and Troy still have the chemistry they did last year?

"I don't even know if he still likes me." Gabriella responds. She closes her eyes and lets their words from the night of the break up swim around in her head.

"_I think we just need to keep our options open right now."_

"_I don't want options Gabriella, I want you."_

"Umm, hun." Another cheerleader, named Mandy starts. "Have you seen the way he looks at you? Any girl would die for that famous Troy Bolton look." Gabriella blushes again and looks out to the court to locate Troy again. She can see the sweat collect on his face and her breath is caught in her throat when Troy runs over to the side lines and takes off his shirt. He looks up at Gabriella and smirks slightly, and then throws the wet t-shirt into her hands.

"Hey! I don't want your dirty laundry!" She yells down to him with a smile and he shrugs.

"Sorry Gabi! I guess I didn't see you there!" He lies and she sticks her tongue out at him. He smiles back and returns back to the game he was playing.

"See Gabriella! He can't stop flirting with you!" Shannon responds and the rest of the girls nod.

"You call throwing dirty laundry at people flirting? I call it disgusting." She says even though she found herself having a tight grip on the sweaty t-shirt. She watches as the rest of the guys follow Troy's lead and take of their shirts too. But Gabriella can't help but keep her eyes on Troy's shirtless body. How his muscles where so defined and perfect. How badly did she want to run her fingers over them, or how she wanted those defined arms to hold her tightly and never let her go.

"You know, for the first day at East High, I think it's turned out pretty good." Chloe states and Gabriella laughs.

"That was random. But how so?" She asks, still not taking her eyes off of Troy.

Chloe sighs. "Well, the people are nice. Already have an awesome new friend who's in my gym hour." Gabriella finally tears her eyes away from Troy's body to smile at Chloe. "And…" Chloe turns her gaze back to the guys playing basketball. "I don't think I've ever seen so many guys shirtless in a school before in my life!" Gabriella laughs and turns her attention back to the court to find Troy jump up in the air for a slam dunk.


	4. An Awful Memory

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much for reading this again guys! And thanks for the comments! They really mean a lot to me! And sorry if the beginning is slow, but I'm just trying to lead you guys in so thanks again!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from High School Musical or Disney!**

Troy could feel himself become distant from his body. He kept trying to focus, but he couldn't. 'Come on Bolton, just let it sink in the hoop. You gotta focus. If you can't concentrate now, how will you in a game?' The ball suddenly leaves his finger tips and he watches as is suspends in the air for a moment. He watches as it comes rushing down toward earth, hits the metal rim and bounces off, not making it to the destination.

"DAMN IT!" He yells to no one and throws himself onto the ground. Sure, he was probably overreacting since he was only in his backyard practicing. But still. Troy closes his eyes and let's the Albuquerque sun beat down onto his body. It had been the longest first week of school Troy had remembered in all his years there. It was Friday, and he was going to get ready and go to the Wildcat's Football Team take on the West High Knights. Though basketball was the favorite sport at East High, Troy knew that football followed right behind it. It also so happened that the coach had been trying to get Troy to play since he was a freshman, but between Troy's first love that was basketball, and golf, he just wanted a season to relax and prepare for the new basketball season. So he never went out for it.

Troy sighs and continues to lie on the ground. A random memory floats to his brain when he and Gabriella just lied in his backyard for about four hours, not saying a word. It was about a week before school got out. He laughs at the thought of them, how innocent they were before the summer started. But so much had changed since that fateful night at Lava Springs. A new memory suddenly filled him up. It was one he thought about every night before he fell asleep. It was the worst night of his life…

"_My brother, Ryan Evans!" Sharpay unexpectedly said into the microphone and the whole stage erupted with cheers. Troy looked over at Ryan, who looked like he just won the lottery and smiled. Even though he wasn't exactly friends with Ryan yet, he was still extremely happy, which made Troy ecstatic. His gaze moved over to Sharpay who was jumping up and down with the rest of the group. He was so happy she was starting to turn around for the better. But his eyes left her and he looked for the brunette that he couldn't wait to hold in his arms again. She was on the other side of Ryan smiling. God did she look gorgeous. Everything in his body felt right again. Troy knew everything was perfect, he was going to get his old life back and everything was going to be ok._

_After jumping up and down for awhile and said hello to their families, the employees and the Evans twins walk up toward the kitchen again. Troy looked around to see Gabriella was waiting behind staring at him. Troy couldn't take the smile off of his face as he walked over to him. He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers as they started to walk up the hill. Still beaming, Troy looked over and Gabriella who was staring straight ahead with no emotion on her face. "You look gorgeous." He whispered in her ear and looked at her again. Tears formed in her eyes and she tried to blink them away, but he had already seen them. "Gabi?"_

_She used her other free hand to wipe them away and gazed up at Troy. Something was wrong, he knew it. He found that they had stopped walking and were standing in front of the doors. His hand reached up to her face and wiped the tears from her eyes. She leaned her cheek into his hand, almost as though savoring his touch. "We need to talk."_

_Troy's heart sank. Those four words were deadly in any relationship and Gabriella just spoke them to him. "Ummm is everything alright?"_

_She didn't answer him. He stared deep into her chocolate brown eyes that made him melt and tried to see what she was thinking. "Get changed, and then meet me in the kitchen when you're done." It was all she said and tore her eyes away from his and ran inside. Troy's body felt numb. What did she need to talk about? Everything seemed fine to him when they were singing. What the hell happened?_

_Troy slowly walked into the locker-room to change. Everyone else had left and he was the only one in there. Still in a daze, Troy took off the white jacket and hung it up in his locker. He then removed the rest of his clothes and changed into a blue shirt and jeans. He walked over to the door that lead to the kitchen and opened it, trying to go as slow as humanly possible. _

_Troy's blue eyes looked up and met Gabriella's brown. God did she look beautiful. Her hair was down again in curls and she was wearing a blue dress that cut to a "v" with a white cami underneath. Troy slowly walked to her and watched how her eyes started to fill up with tears for a moment, but she blinded them away by the time he got there. Troy's lips found her cheek and he kissed her there. _

_She grabbed his hand and led him through the piano room. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he and Gabriella had sang "You Are the Music in Me" in this room. It had been in the beginning of the summer, but it had been that night when he promised Sharpay that he would sing with her. That night was what changed everything._

_Gabriella continued to lead him outside and they walked out to the gulf course. She never once looked over at him and it was scaring the hell out of him. What could be so wrong? Why was she sad? They were back, so why did they have to talk things over?_

_Suddenly, Gabriella stopped onto of a hill that looked over the manmade lake. She slowly let go of Troy's hand and sat down at his feet. Troy followed her lead and sat down next to her. For a long moment, Gabriella just stared at the ground and it was driving Troy crazy. He just wanted to know what was going on and couldn't take the silence much longer. After about ten minutes, Troy finally spoke up. "What's wrong Gabi?"_

_He heard her sigh and finally look up into his eyes. There were tears spilling down her face again and Troy's heart ached. He hated it when she was upset, because it made him hurt too. What was going on? "Troy, I don't know how to… it's not that I… oh Troy." She rambled and left Troy just as confused as before._

"_It's ok. You can tell me anything… you know that." He encouraged her and lifted her chin up to watch her eyes fill up with tears once more. _

"_I don't want to say it cuz then it will be final." She whispered and wiped her eyes once again. He had never seen Gabriella so broken up before, not even last night. Sure she was crying, but not like how she was at this moment. Troy's stomach dropped when the words sink in though… final? "I think…Troy I…" She stared to ramble again but took a deep breath in. "I think we should break up... again"_

_His heart sank once again. "What?" Troy whispered and felt his face get hot. They had broken up last night when she said she was going her own way, but he thought everything was ok now. And they had just sung like they were dating again! Why didn't she want him? "Gabi… I'm sorry. I know I've been an ass but I've been trying... to be back to who I was."_

_The tears fell down her face faster. "Troy I know. Taylor came and told me what happened with Sharpay, and she said that I should give you another chance. I figured you would find yourself eventually, so I came and while we were singing, it just felt amazing and felt like how things used to be. I guess I just got lost in you and wanted you so badly that I wasn't thinking. I wasn't trying to lead you on but I just couldn't help but be in your touch. I believe that you the old Troy again. But please Troy; it's not that I don't want to be with you. Please don't think that cuz that's the only place I want to be. I just need to make sure this is what we both want. I think we just need to keep our options open right now."_

_Troy's heart was cracking further with every word that she was saying. How could she do this to him? He cared about her too much to let her go like this. "I don't want options Gabriella, I want you." He looked up to see her tears spilled faster down her face after he said that. If she really cared about him this much, then why was she letting him go?_

"_Troy, I want this to be right. And I think taking a break will be the best for us." With that Troy turned away from her to hide the tears that were finally falling down his face. He looked over at another hill across the way to see eight balls of light. It must have been the rest of the gang celebrating the summer. Troy felt the hot tears falling faster as he realized how badly he wanted to just tell Gabriella that he didn't care what the hell she thought, they weren't breaking up. But he couldn't do that. If this was what she really wanted, he had to give in whether it broke his heart or not. Gabriella rested her chin on his shoulder and he suddenly felt a wet spot there from her tears. "I understand if you hate me."_

_This finally made Troy turn around. He looked at her; his blue eyes matched her brown for they were both close to sobbing. Troy kissed her head and brought her into his arms once more. "There are many things I could do Gabriella Montez. But I could never EVER hate you. I care about you too much." He whispered into her ear and finally with that, she started sobbing and gripping Troy with her life. Troy felt her shake in his grasp and he leaded his head into her shoulder and joined her into sobs as well. _

"_I'm sorry" She whispered between sobs. "I'm so sorry." Whatever was left of his heart finally cracked. But in that moment Troy realized that he had to do everything in his power to win her back. He had to prove to her that he was in this for real and she was the only one for him. Everything he thought was important this summer didn't matter anymore. Not U of A, not scholarships, nothing like that. All that mattered now was showing her that the old Troy was who he really was and not the new Troy. Nothing was going to get in his way and he was going to make everything right again. You could bet on that._

Troy's eyes open again as he feels the sting of them. He abruptly sits up and puts his head into his hands. "Come on Bolton suck it up" he says to himself as he feels the tears slip down his face. Quickly, his hand wipes them away and he stares off into space. That night had suck with him through the rest of the summer. He remembers how awkward it was at first when the gang would all hang out together. Neither Gabriella nor he said a word to each other for about two weeks after they broke up. Eventually though, that went away and they became friends again. Then you could say that they became best friends. Slowly, from that they became flirtier with each other. It drove Troy insane.

Sure, it was nice to be able to flirt again and he knew that he was the only one she really did it with. But it was so hard not being able to grab her and kiss her, or run his hands up and down her body. And it was also true that they hadn't kissed yet, but it didn't matter. All Troy could think about was her lips on his or his chest or anywhere else on his body. She tortured him every time she touched him and he wanted her to torture him more.

Troy hears a door open and close and a shuffle down the steps. He looks up to see his mother coming closer to him. He stands and puts on a smile. "Hey Mom."

"Hi honey. Your dad and I are going to visit your Grandpa tonight. Grandma said that he's not feeling well so we thought we'd cheer him up. You're still going to the football game tonight right?" She asks in the caring mother tone that she usually has.

Troy nods. "Yea, I'm picking Chad up at 6:45 since his car broke down on Wednesday. I think Chad is having people over after."

She smiles and nods. "Alright, just be home by midnight alright?" Troy nods and his mother turns around. "I'm going to go get ready."

Troy nods and turns around to shoot another basket. It misses, again. He sighs in frustration and shoots again. He watches as it finally goes through the net and makes it. Satisfied, Troy picks up the ball and heads inside to go get ready for the game.


	5. Trust

**Author's Note: **Gabriella's outfit is in my profile. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Disney or High School Musical**

Gabriella opens up the car door and slowly stands up. She looks over the green Honda civic to watch Taylor do the same only over on the driver's side. The two decided to drive together because Gabriella really didn't want to go by herself and Taylor willingly gave up going with Chad to go with her. She smiles as she realizes how great of a best friend she really has. Taylor would drop anything just to help Gabriella out when she needed her. And Gabriella prayed that Taylor knew she would do the same for her.

They walk toward each other and link arms together as they walk toward the football stadium. The two were running a little late, for they had already started to announce the players. But neither one of them were in much of a hurry because they were seniors this year, so they got the front rows of the student section to watch the game. Taylor smiles and looks over to Gabriella. They were both decked out in spirit wear, or "super-fanning" the game. Taylor was wearing red tennis shoes with white laces and red soccer socks. She was also wearing white shorts with a giant "E" on them. A red shirt matched with her headband on her head that was red with white polka dots. Gabriella on the other hand was wearing white etnies shoes, mainly because they had a red "E" on them. Also, she had white soccer socks with three thick yellow stripes at the top. Her shorts were short and red with white on the seams. She was wearing a white beater with a red spaghetti strap tank top over it. She put a white zip up hoodie with an "E" on the left side of her stomach over the tank tops. Then, to top everything off, her hair was in two pig tail braids.

They walk into the stands and went into the front where all the other seniors were and try to look for their friends. Gabriella scans the stands for a certain chestnut colored hair, blue-eyed boy, but is unsuccessful. She sighs and looks at her best friend. "Hey Taylor, where's Chad?"

Taylor rolls her dark eyes and laughs. "Since I didn't go with him, he's coming with Troy. And he told me that they have a surprise for us, with the rest of the basketball team. God, with those two leading, you never know what it's going to be!" The two laugh and hear a noise from inside the stands.

"Taylor! Gabs! Over here!" Gabriella looks over to find Ryan Evans waving to them. They run over to find him standing next to their friend the composer, Kelsi, with her boyfriend Jason, Martha and Chloe. In front of them, who were also in the front row are Zeke and Sharpay, along with most of the basketball team, except for two who were playing on the field. Gabriella also noticed that each one was wearing the same red warm up jacket that they wore for basketball.

"Hey guys!" Taylor greets and everyone greets the two of them back. All of the school was on their feet and cheering loudly. Gabriella turns her attention to the game to watch East High kick off. The crowd cheers and Gabriella looks at Ryan.

"So I haven't seen you that much this week." She says yelling over the crowd. He looks down and smiles at her. They had become close friends ever since Troy started hanging out with Sharpay but he didn't have any classes with her year.

"Yea I know I miss ya Gabs." He says and places an arm around her. She smiles and looks out at the game once again. "So how's Troy?"

She looks back at him questioningly. "How would I know?" She asks and he gives her a knowing look. She laughs and shrugs.

"GABS!" Her head turns around to find Chloe waving toward her. She smiles and waves back as Chloe switches spots with Martha to stand next to Ryan. All week, Chloe was introduced to everyone in the group and they all greeted her with open arms. Well except maybe Sharpay who was too wrapped up in herself and Zeke to really notice anything different. Chloe was wearing just as much red as everyone else and she fit in perfectly.

"Hey Chloe!" Gabriella responds and smiles. "Enjoying the game so far?"

Chloe nods her head and laughs. "My brother used to play for my old school until senior year when he tore his ACL, so I'm kind of used to being at football games, but this is great!" She adds still yelling over the top of everyone else.

Gabriella suddenly feels a nudge on her arm and turns around to see Taylor smiling brightly, which could only mean one thing. "Chad's here!" Gabriella's stomach drops. If Chad's here, then that means…

Gabriella looks up the stands. The crowd suddenly starts to part as if it's the Red Sea. They form a circle around the two people trying to get they're way through. Finally, when they get two rows above Gabriella, she hears Chad's scream. "WHAT TEAM?!"

The whole crowd erupts in "WILDCATS!!!!!" Taylor and Gabriella were practically on the ground laughing. It was so typical of Chad to act like this since he and Troy basically led the crowd in cheering.

"WHAT TEAM?!" Chad screams again.

"WILDCATS!"

"WHAT TEAM?!?!?!"

"WILDCATS!"

"WILDCATS!" Chad yells.

"GET'CHA HEAD IN THE GAME!" The basketball team plus Taylor and Gabriella yell because the last part of that cheer is just for the basketball team. Gabriella and Taylor grab onto each other's arms so that they don't fall off the bleachers because they're laughing so hard. Gabriella's stomach drops again when she hears Troy's voice scream "AAAAOOOOOO!"

She looks ahead of her to see Chad and Troy finally made it up to the front of the bleachers. Quickly, Chad runs over to Taylor and smiles. "Hey hottie."

Gabriella watches Taylor blush and slap his arm. They were so adorable. She noticed he had on the same warm up jacket that the rest of the eight guys had on. She sees the back of Troy's head to notice he was wearing the same jacket, but couldn't really get a good look at him since he looked like he was directing the guys in a certain order. What was going on? "Hey Chad." She hears Taylor respond. Taylor leans down and kisses Chad tenderly and then pulls apart.

"Hey Gabs." Chad greets her and she smiles.

"Hey Chad! So I hear you have a surprise for us." She responds and Chad just shrugs.

"It's not really for you, but for the whole school. All I have to say is it was all Troy's idea." He says while looking at Taylor as if to tell her not to blame him for whatever was going on. Taylor nods in understanding and laces her fingers with his.

"Chad, man, stop screwing your girlfriend, you got to get over here!" Gabriella hears Troy's voice calling his best friend and watches Chad roll his eyes. He looks back up at Taylor with caring eyes and kisses her quickly again. Gabriella smiles to herself thinking how perfect they are for each other.

"I'll be back later, ok?" He says and kisses her cheek. Then he runs off over to wear Troy had his back turned to Gabriella. She smiles at Taylor and she blushes.

"You guys are so perfect." Gabriella states and watches her blush even more. Taylor shakes her head and gives her a knowing smile. "What?"

"You know, for someone who is such a romantic as yourself, I guess you don't realize how perfect you are with a certain someone." Taylor states boldly nods in a certain brown haired-blue eyed boy's direction. Gabriella sighs and looks at Troy again. She didn't want to admit it, but Taylor was sort of right. She and Troy still had the chemistry they had last year. But was she really ready to trust him again?

Gabriella shakes her head and watches curiously as Troy stands up on the bar in front of the bleachers. All the basketball guys where standing in a line and Troy was standing center with Chad on his left and Zeke on his right. His blue eyes look up and locks with Gabriella's brown. He smirks at her and winks. She can't help but smile and he finally breaks the stare. "ALRIGHT!" She could hear his scream. "ON THE COUNT OF THREE… ONE, TWO, THREE!!!"

On Troy's command, all of the basketball players strip off they're jackets. None of them are wearing shirts and in the line, all eight of them spell out "WILDCATS" with red paint on their bare chests. Troy yells "AAAOOOO!" Again and the whole crowd erupts in cheers. Gabriella's cheeks become red with jealously when she realizes the girls aren't yelling for the game, they're yelling for Troy's shirtless body.

"CHAD DANFORTH!!!!!!!" Taylor screams and Chad turns around to give her an innocent look. Gabriella laughs at the scheme. "What are you laughing about?"

Gabriella shrugs. "Aww lighten up Taylor. It's funny. Who thinks of that really?"

"First of all, your lover Troy Bolton does." Gabriella feels her cheeks get hot again but not from jealousy, this time it's out of embarrassment. "And secondly, I don't want everyone staring at Chad like he's some piece of meat. Although, I'm sure most of the girls are looking at someone else…"

Gabriella immediately looks up to find Bridget trying to make her way from the track where the rest of the cheerleaders were taking a break from cheering at the game, up to the bar that Troy was standing on before. For the third time in the past ten minutes, Gabriella's cheeks get hot with fury. Her immediate reaction is to go get to Troy before Bridget does. But Taylor throws her arm out as soon as Gabriella starts to move.

"Gabs stop." She says and Gabriella remembers how she told Taylor what happened in the locker-room on the first day of school. Gabriella feels herself give Taylor an evil look for stopping her. "You trust Troy again right?"

Gabriella stops in her tracks. She was just thinking this. Did she trust Troy again? Yea, it still stung what he did to her to set his future, and she had forgiven him. But did she trust him? "I don't know." She says quietly and looks over to see Bridget made her journey to a row below hers, right behind Troy. "I guess we're about to find out."

In the distance, the crowd cheers because East High had just scored their first touchdown, but Gabriella doesn't notice. She watches as Troy stands up on the bar in front of him and yells a chant that the rest of the crowd echoes. Afterward, he steps down from the bar and turns around to see Bridget climbing up and standing on the oppisite side of the bar, closest to the football field. Gabriella suddenly wishes she was closer to them to hear what they are saying. From what it looks like, Troy doesn't seem to act any different, which Gabriella doesn't know if that's good or bad. After about three minutes, which Gabriella feels like its four hours instead, Bridget puts her arms up and Troy hugs her. Fury spreads through Gabriella's veins like poison and she feels herself tense up. For what seems like hours, even though it was only for about two seconds, Troy lets go and turns his head to face the game. Bridget turns around to face Gabriella and smirks.

"I ABSOLUTELY HATE HER!" Gabriella screams and Taylor puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Gabriella! Calm down, it was a hug which lasted less than two seconds! It didn't mean anything ok? Relax. Besides…" Taylor moves her gaze away from Gabriella and smiles. "Chad and Troy are coming over here anyways."

Gabriella's head whips around so fast it could have fallen off. She finally gets a good look at him and realizes how hot he actually looked right now. He was wearing his red and white basketball shoes with high white soccer socks. His baggy shorts were red with thick white stripes going down the seems and a red "E" in the white area. A giant red "D" was painted onto his chest in red and a red bandana was tied around his head so some of his chestnut brown hair came out in the front. She had to do everything in her power not to drop her mouth at the site. The two finally reach them and Chad immediately jumps up next to Taylor. Troy looks up and stares at Gabriella for a moment.

"Hey Gabi."

Gabriella smiles shyly, "Hey Troy." He suddenly grabs her shoulder and lifts himself up so he's standing in-between her and Ryan. Gabriella giggles a little and looks down at his chest. "So this was your idea."

He shrugs and nods. "Yea, Chad and I planned on doing it yesterday so we told the rest of the team. Cool huh?"

She laughs again. "Umm… cool's not the word I'm looking for." She smiles and he pretends to look offended. "Kidding, I'm kidding." A pause erupts between them and she sighs, trying to ask the question that was stuck on her mind. "So I saw you talking to Bridget before."

Troy locks eyes with her and Gabriella gets the feeling that he's watching her reactions. "Yea, I was. Something wrong with that?"

Gabriella notices the cockiness in his voice that she usually doesn't hear. But she brushes the thought off and shrugs. "No, I was just wondering what she wanted. Never mind, I didn't mean to be nosy…"

"I don't know. She just wanted to say hi. And SHE said the letters were cool, unlike some people." Troy adds and gently bumps her hip with his. Sparks shoot through her body from the impact point.

"Hey, sorry but I'm not sure it's cool if I have to stare at your shirtless chest." She flirts, knowing that it was a total lie. She wasn't complaining about his lack of clothing.

"I know you can't resist it." He whispers seductively into her ear giving her the shivers. She gives everything in her power not to touch him or wrap his arms around him. Her body tenses up and she looks at Troy who notices this. His face becomes soft and he sighs. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

Gabriella giggles and shakes her head. "No don't worry about it." Troy smiles and throws his arm around her like he used to when they were dating. She giggles again. "Troy your gonna get paint on me!" She whines and Troy laughs.

"No I won't." He grabs her and pulls her into a hug. Gabriella loosens in his arms. She silently counts the seconds in her head to make sure it's longer than Bridget's hug. But she looses track eventually. Her head finds her favorite place in his neck and closes her eyes. After about a minute, he gently pulls away and scratches the back of his neck, a habit he does when he's nervous. "I told you I wouldn't get paint on you. You just didn't trust me." He says softly.

Gabriella sighs and looks up into his crystal blue eyes again and smiles. "You're wrong Troy… I do trust you."


	6. Car Ride Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from High School Musical or Disney.**

"Did you see the last pass of the game? Wow that was incredible! I can't believe we beat them 35 to 14! I mean really, am I the only one excited about this?" Chad exclaims and looks to see everyone staring at him with wide eyes, but don't make a noise. Troy laughs at the fact that it didn't matter the sport that was being played, Chad got excited over everything. Chad, Taylor, Gabriella, Ryan, Sharpay, Zeke, Chloe, Kelsi, Jason, and himself all drove over to Chad's house to hang out for awhile. And the whole way home Chad wouldn't shut up about the last fifty yard pass East High threw to score their final touch down. Chad, Zeke, Jason and Troy then each put on a white Wildcats shirt on to cover their letters on their stomachs. "Come on, is NO ONE else excited about this?"

Troy rolls his eyes. "We were Chad, an hour and a half ago when it happened. We really don't need a play by play of the whole game ten times. We were all there!" The whole group laughs as Chad throws a pillow at Troy who was sitting on a small couch in his basement. Troy catches it perfectly and stands up. "I'm hungry, Chad I'm going to make popcorn."

Chad nods. "You know where it is."

Troy makes his way up the stairs and heads into the kitchen. He knew this place as well as he had known his own home, since this had been his second home since he was four years old. He reaches up to open the cabinet and grabs two bags of microwave popcorn. He puts one in the microwave and then sits on the island counter to wait. Troy's mind was racing. _I do trust you_. Did that mean she wanted to go out again? Or was it completely innocent and didn't mean anything about what happened? Did she trust that he wasn't going to pull a stupid thing like he did this summer? Troy was in such deep thought that he didn't even realize someone had followed him up the stairs and was standing at the kitchen table. "You know, I don't think I have ever seen someone think this hard in my life."

Startled, Troy looks up to find a blond standing in front of him. His mind had been racing so hard he hadn't even heard someone follow him up. He smiles gently and shrugs. "I guess I've just have a lot on my mind lately."

"I can tell." She says and walks toward the island where he's sitting. Troy had never really noticed before that this girl really was pretty, not Gabriella gorgeous, but she was pretty. "I was sent up here to see if you need any help."

"Sent?" He asks questioningly and she nods.

"Yea, Chad said you might burn something down so someone should come help you. I said I would go since I wanted to get water anyways." She says as she walks toward the fridge to grab bottled water. "I guess we've never really talked much this year."

Troy nods and extends a hand out. "Well, let's start. I'm Troy Bolton. I'm caption of the basketball team and I play golf. Something that would surprise people is that I co-stared in a musical last winter."

The girl smiles and reaches out to grab his hand. "Impressive. I'm Chloe Roberts. I just moved here from San Diego and I run track. Something people would be surprised about me is that ummm…" She stops to think for a second. "I'm double-jointed?"

Troy laughs and lets go of her hands. "Well it's nice to finally talk to you. You've already fit in pretty well with the gang."

Chloe nods and smiles at him. "Yea, everyone seems really great and it's nice to be included. Except, that Sharpay kind of scares me."

Troy laughs nervously again thinking back to how Sharpay manipulated him this summer. "Uhh yea, she scares a lot of people." He says and the microwave beeps. Troy pours the popcorn in a bowl while Chloe puts the other bag into the microwave. He sits back on the counter. "Thanks."

She smiles. "No problem." Chloe takes a sip of her water and looks at him intently. It was almost as if she was reading his reactions to everything she said. But not in the creepy stalker way, more like in the understanding way. "So caption of the basketball team huh?"

Troy shrugs his shoulders and looks over at her. When he first saw her on the first day of school, she looked scared and timid. But now, it was if she was bold and caring. She seemed like one of the people you could talk to whenever you had a problem about anything and she would be there for you in a second. Troy stored that in the back of his head for safe keeping. "Yea, I just love the sport I guess."

Chloe nods. "I understand. It's the same for me with track. I don't know what it is but I get this high that you can't get anywhere else. It's an incredible feeling." Troy nods in understanding and the microwave beeps again. Troy takes the bag out and dumps everything into the bowl. "But you seem to have you head on your shoulders pretty well for being the most popular guy in school."

Troy suddenly looks up to this. Sure, people have implied that but never had anyone actually said it to him. He nervously scratches the back of his neck and looks at her. "I…well… umm thanks?"

Chloe laughs and takes a bowl of popcorn. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound too straight forward, but it's true." Troy follows her lead and takes the other bowl of popcorn down the stairs. Troy, even more confused then when he went up the stairs. They look over to see that Chad had put in a movie and the lights were off. Chloe sits on the floor next to Ryan, with Kelsi and Jason on the other side. Troy returns to his spot on the small couch to find that one person is missing.

"Where'd Gabi go?" He asks and Chad looks up from Taylor to make eye contact with Troy.

"Bathroom." He responds and Troy nods. Chad quickly turns back to Taylor who looks like she's falling asleep. Troy smiles as Taylor snuggles closer to Chad and then returns his gaze back to the movie.

He suddenly hears a door open and looks over his shoulder to see Gabriella walk out. She smiles at him and walks right by the couch he was on. Troy grabs her waist and pulls her down onto the couch, but she stays on his lap for a moment. "I'm lonely, sit with me." Troy says and melts as he stares into her deep brown eyes. She finally pulls off of his lap and sits next to him to look at the movie they put in while Troy and Chloe were upstairs. He resists the urge to wrap an arm around her shoulder and passes the bowl of popcorn to her. She takes a handful and he brings it back into his lap. Suddenly, he feels a soft pang on the side of his cheek and he looks down to see a stray piece of popcorn on his white shirt.

"Sorry, I missed." Gabriella says with a smile. He looks over at her who then throws another piece which hits him between the eyes.

"You're gonna pay for that Montez." He whispers and chucks another piece at her. She throws her whole handful at him and he sets the bowl down and starts to tickle her stomach. She squeals which makes him tickle her more.

"Would you guys shut up?" Chad says, but Troy glances over to see him smiling. He continues to tickle her but she tries not to make any noises. It wasn't working so well for her.

She quietly laughs, "Troy! Troy, stop! Troy!" He feels her slide lower and lower and soon she's pushed up against the edge of the couch, with Troy slightly on top of her. Her legs cling around his waist and Troy suddenly feels himself get hard as he realizes the position they're in. He suddenly stops tickling her. He stares at her with desire for a moment and watches her stare back. "What are you staring at?" She asks him.

After what feels like hours, he shakes his head and shrugs. God, she looks so drop gorgeous at the moment. "Nothing." He mumbles and tries to get up off of her, but she continues to pin him with her legs around his waist. "I just figured that you paid for throwing that at me." He looks down into her brown eyes again and she smiles.

"Your right, now get off me!" As she says it, a flash erupts in the room and Troy looks over to see Kelsi had taken a picture of Troy and Gabriella. Remembering the other people in the room, Troy quickly sits up with Gabriella following. Troy begins to scratch the back of his neck, embarrassed and looks over at Gabriella who even though it was dark, looked about four shades redder than her normal skin color.

"Sorry guys, but it looked really funny." Kelsi says laughing. Troy looks over at Gabriella who was still bright red and shrugs he moves a little closer to her and she looks up to smile at him. Troy then turns his attention to the movie for the first time since he had gotten into the basement.

About an hour later, Troy looks up at the clock to read 11:43. He looks across the room to find Taylor, Jason, Kelsi, Sharpay and Zeke all asleep. He sighs and stands up. "I got to get home Chad, my curfew's midnight." Chad looks up and nods.

"Damn, so is mine." He hears Gabriella's voice come from behind him and he turns to look at her. She sighs and looks over at Chad. "Chad, can you wake Taylor up? She was my ride here and I need to go home."

Troy looks at her for a moment a makes a quick decision. "I'll take you home Gabriella."

She looks over at him considering this for a moment. Then she shakes her head. "No, I don't want you to have to go out of your way. Plus, if you take me home, then you'll miss your own curfew. Really, Troy it's fine."

Troy shakes his head. "No, it's not out of my way, and I'll just call my parents and tell them that I'm taking you home. They love you anyways. Come Gabi." He tries to persuade her. She looks up into his blue eyes and sighs.

"Alright fine. I'll see you guys all later." Gabriella says softly, and Troy waves to everyone else. Troy smiles to himself as he walks up the stairs behind her and they walk outside. He opens the white truck's door for her and she smiles at him. "Suck up." She jokes and Troy shrugs.

"Hey, if it gets me on your good side." He says and shuts the door. Troy runs around to the other side and gets into his truck. Before he starts the car, he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and hands it to Gabriella. "Do me a favor and call my mom." He says and puts the keys into the ignition and the truck comes to life.

"Troy I'm not going to talk to your parents!" She protests and he shakes his head.

"You don't have to, just text my mom's cell and tell her I'm taking you home before I come home." He says as he pulls out into the road and heads off toward Gabriella's house. After a moment, she doesn't say anything and just stares at the screen. "What's wrong?"

"You have a text message." She says quietly and he looks over at her. "It's from Bridget."

"Bridget?" Troy says confused and looks over to see her still staring at the screen. "What does it say?"

He hears Gabriella sigh. "It says 'Are you here yet? I miss you babe.'" Troy can hear a hint of disgust in her voice and smiles to himself. She was jealous and he knew it. But his eyes glue back onto the road and he shrugs.

"When I saw her at the game, she wanted to know if I was going to go to Steve Nociz's house. You know, he's on the football team. Anyways, I guess he was having a party and she wanted me to go." Troy said glancing at Gabriella. "I wouldn't have gone even if I didn't have plans already. I would bet money at least half of them get tickets for being wasted. Bridget's a pretty heavy drinker herself."

"How do you know?" Gabriella asks softly, Troy wondered whether or not she was thinking if they had hung out at all this summer. But they had not. Troy actually found Bridget slightly annoying and clingy. Sure, she was nice to him, but he didn't like the way he treated other people.

"Chad and I went to a party freshman year." Troy says and turns the corner on the road. He glances at Gabriella for a second then continues. "The varsity basketball team invited the whole JV to come and since I was the only freshman on JV, I brought Chad with me." He looks over again to watch her nod and shut his phone. She must have just finished texting his mom. He turns his attention back to the road again. "Bridget was there, why, I have no idea. But she was completely trashed and came over to talk to me. I didn't want to deal with her so I started to walk away. She grabbed my shoulder and then the alcohol must have finally kicked in, cuz she threw up all over my shoes." Troy glances over again to see Gabriella burst out into laughter.

"She threw up on you? Oh my god that's hilarious." She says out of sprits of laughter. Troy feels his face get red and he shakes his head.

"It's not funny!" He exclaims and Gabriella just laughs harder. "Those were my favorite pair of basketball shoes and I had to lie to my dad and say someone had the flu and threw up! I guess I've held a slight grudge against her for that." Troy finally pulls up to Gabriella house and turns the key. Gabriella stops laughing finally and unbuckles her seatbelt. "Why are you so concerned about Bridget anyways?" He says boldly.

She turns over and looks at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Troy shrugs. "At the game you asked me what she wanted, and now you just questioned all about her. Man I feel like I'm getting the third degree here."

He watches as Gabriella sighs. "I don't know. It's just…" She looks out the window at her house and doesn't say anything for a moment. The quietly, she turns back to him. "She was talking about you in the locker-room on Monday."

Troy cocks an eyebrow. "What do you mean she was talking about me?"

Gabriella stares into his eyes for a moment and Troy feels like she's having a battle with herself. She turns away and looks out the window once more. Then softly, just barely audible, says, "She was talking about us, the break up, actually."

Troy's heart drops. This was the first time since they broke up that either one of them had mentioned the break up or them going out at all. Troy had taken that as that they were starting over and it was not to be mentioned. Obviously, he was wrong about that. Troy nervously scratches the back of his neck again. "Well... wh…what did she say?"

Gabriella tears her eyes away from her house and finally looks at him. Troy's heart melts. "She…She said that you… broke up with me because I wouldn't…. I wouldn't… have sex with you." The last part was said in a whisper and Troy stares at her. Suddenly, out of no where, Troy bursts out laughing. Gabriella stares at him in confusion and Troy laughs even harder. "Troy, I don't think it's funny that she was spreading rumors about something she has nothing to do with!"

Troy wipes his eyes and tries to calm himself down. "No… Gabi, no I'm sorry…" He gets out between laughs. "No your right it's not. But what I think is hilarious is how ridiculous that story actually is!" Troy watches Gabriella sigh in relief and actually watches her laugh a little.

"Don't worry about her Gabi. She just has nothing better to do then make up stupid lies. None of the guys like her anyways so you don't have to worry. She'll never replace you." He smiles and punches her arm playfully. Her eyes grow wide and she beams back at him.

"Err…well…thanks… and thanks for the ride. I should get going; my mom might start to worry." She says and opens the car door. He nods and smiles at her.

"Yea, alright. I guess I'll see you on Monday then." Gabriella nods. Troy looks up into her brown eyes and smiles. Gabriella leans over and kisses his cheek. His face burned at the impact spot. She smiles shyly at him and gets out of the car.

"Bye Troy." She says and walks toward her house, driving Troy crazy with every step she took.


	7. Sad Monday News

Gabriella opens her locker gently and places her books inside. She sighs and looks up into the mirror that was hanging in the back of her locker. Her hair was curly and she was wearing a navy blue zip up hoodie with a pink long tank top underneath and light jeans. She had just gotten out of second hour and was heading off to the library. Every Monday, the school had a built in study hall during third hour and the seniors were in the library, since they had seniority. She hadn't talked to Troy since he had given her a car ride home since he hadn't been in homeroom. Gabriella naturally feels herself blush slightly at the thought of how bold she was on Saturday night. Never, ever had Gabriella planned to kiss Troy's cheek. How stupid was that anyways? But the whole night had just felt… so right. It felt to her that they were going out again, but she knew that wasn't true. She didn't even know if he liked her again, which he probably didn't. If he did, wouldn't he have asked her out again? Gabriella becomes such deep in thought that she doesn't even realize someone had come up behind her.

"Hey Gabs." She hears Taylor's voice and turns around. Taylor was standing there with Chad's hand in her's and Gabriella smiles. Gabriella quickly grabs a book out of her locker and shuts it quickly.

"Hey Taylor, Hey Chad." She responds tiredly. "Chad, where's Troy?"

Chad looks up at her and shrugs his shoulders. "No idea. I talked to him last night and he wasn't sick or anything. But I have no idea." Chad then raises an eyebrow, "What happened on the ride home anyways?"

Gabriella feels herself blush. She hadn't even told Taylor what had happened Friday night and she had went over to Taylor's on Saturday. The couple gives her a skeptical look and Gabriella turns even redder. "What did Troy tell you?"

Chad shrugs. "Not much, but he was bouncing off the walls when I was over at his house. When I asked him what was going on, he just shrugged it off." Gabriella smiles to herself when she hears this. Troy was bouncing off the walls? That meant he was happy about it! Gabriella starts to beam. "Uh oh, what's that look?"

Gabriella shrugs but continues to smile. "There is no look. We just had an… an interesting talk. It's not really a big deal." She was lying through her teeth… of course it was a big deal! It had been all she was thinking about since it had happened! Was she trying to lie to herself? What would that prove anyway?

"Ok Gabriella. But might I put my two cents in and say that you two looked adorable on Friday. It truly looked like you guys are back." Taylor says with a smile and pulls something out of her backpack. "And I have the picture to prove it!"

Gabriella grabs the picture in Taylor's hand before she can draw her hand back. Gabriella looks down to see the picture of Troy's body pinning down hers at the hips. Her hands are on his shoulders and his are holding himself up so he won't crush her. They're both only looking at each other and if you wouldn't have known any better, you'd say that they had just gotten done with a heated make out session. Gabriella's cheeks turn bright red and she looks up at Taylor. "How many more of these are there?"

"Kelsi has another one. You're not mad are you?" Gabriella shakes her head and Taylor smiles. The three of them head off to the library and sit down at a table with Chloe, Kelsi, Zeke, and Sharpay. "Where are Ryan and Jason?"

Kelsi looks up from a piece of music she was looking at. "Oh, they're getting math help." She says and looks up at Gabriella. "Where's Troy?"

"No idea." Chad responds. "He wasn't in homeroom."

"Maybe he slept in." Kelsi suggests and Chad vigorously shakes his head in disagreement.

"No, Troy hasn't really slept in lately. Actually, he hasn't slept… well since…" Chad abruptly stops and turns his head down. Gabriella stares at him in confusion for a moment, but the realization dawns on her. He hasn't slept well since they broke up. Everyone seems to know the reason but doesn't mention it. But suddenly, Zeke's hand shoots up and waves at something. Gabriella turns around to see Troy walking in slowly. He was wearing a white long sleeved shirt and ripped blue jeans. His hair was spiked up in different places so it looked like he just rolled out of bed and Gabriella did everything in her power not to let her jaw drop at the site. When he arrives, he pulls up a chair next to Gabriella and opens a book, not saying a word.

"Hey Troy." Everyone says and Troy looks up. He looks at Gabriella next to him and gives her a small smile. Now that he was up close, Gabriella could tell that he had bags under his eyes and he looked exhausted.

"Hey guys." He responds softly and looks back down at his book. Gabriella could tell something was bothering him

Chad leans forward and Gabriella continues to stare at Troy. "Uh, where were you?"

Troy looks up from his book again and shrugs. "My Grandpa went into cardiac arrest last night. I've been in the hospital since three this morning. He's still not doing so well." Gabriella's heart broke with Troy. She knew that they were extremely close. Gabriella remembers vaguely that Troy mentioned his Grandpa had gotten him his first basketball ever.

"Oh gosh Troy, I'm so sorry." Kelsi whispers and Troy tries to give her a small smile. Everyone else, even Sharpay, gives Troy their sympathy. Gabriella, feeling bold once more, reaches out and grabs his hand. Startled by the action, Troy looks up and locks eyes with her. Even though she was hurting for him, she still feels shivers go down her back when he picks her hand up and brings it down under the table, hiding their laced fingers.

"If there's anything we can do…" Taylor offers and Troy looks over at her and shrugs.

"Thanks Tay, but I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Zeke responds. Gabriella sighs as she realizes that Zeke is right. He absolutely did not look fine at all. In fact, he looked like his heart was breaking.

"I'm fine guys, really." Troy tries to assure them but Gabriella knew he was lying. She gently squeezes his hand under the table and their eyes lock. At that moment, she realizes that Troy doesn't want to talk about what happened and just wanted to be left alone. Her hand untwines from his and she begins to rub his forearm in a comforting way. She watches as he closes his eyes to her touch and sighs.

"Yea Troy, really, you must be hurting, we wanna help." Kelsi says and Troy opens his eyes again.

"Guys… seriously…" He starts but is cut off again by Zeke.

"You can talk to us."

"I don't want to talk, ok?" Troy responds in a cold voice that Gabriella rarely hears him use. She tries to give the rest of her friends threatening looks but they don't stop.

"Troy, we're here for you. What are friends for?" Chloe tries and Troy shakes his head.

"You shouldn't bottle everything inside." Kelsi responds which was a huge mistake. Troy shuts his eyes angrily and opens them again. For the first time in her life, Gabriella doesn't see the sparkling blue that she usually does. Instead, they look like ice, piercing through everything in their path. It was a moment Gabriella would never forget, a moment would be burned into her memory. Troy's eyes lock on Kelsi and he removes his arm from Gabriella's touch.

"If I want to bottle shit up inside I can and I told you I didn't want to talk about it damn it!" Troy bursts out at Kelsi who suddenly shrinks in her seat. Everyone looks blankly at him as he reverts his gaze back down to his book. "Thanks for trying to help but I told you that I don't want to talk about it!" Gariella hears the anger in his voice and tries to think of something to calm him down, but her mind was going blank. Whatever was happening wasn't going to end well. Troy's emotions were off the hook anyways, and the outcome didn't look good.

"Well you don't have to be an ass about it." Gabriella looks over to see Troy's head shoot up again and give the piercing stare at the blond. Sharpay shakes her head and continues. "You know, she was just trying to help, and you spat in her face."

Troy's nostrils flare and he narrows his eyebrows. "Oh your one to talk Sharpay. When have you EVER cared about anyone else besides your fucking self?!" Gabriella watched in horror as he starts to shake slightly. Sharpay grows silent but gives him the same stare back. "Yea, that's what I thought." He says as he stands up and grabs his books and turns around.

"Troy!" Taylor yells after him but he doesn't say anything back. As soon as he leaves the library, whispers from neighboring tables erupt and Chad stands up. "Where are YOU going?" Taylor asks and Chad grabs his books as well.

"After him. He didn't mean what he said guys." He directs his attention to Sharpay and Kelsi who are still in shock. "He's just upset right now. Don't take it personally." Kelsi nods and Sharpay continues to give her glare at the door. Chad kisses Taylor's cheek, murmuring "I'll see you later" in the process and leaves. Sharpay's look changes as she turns toward Gabriella.

"You're boyfriend can be a pain in the ass." She says to Gabriella. It was the first time Sharpay had talked to her since Gabriella blew up at her during the summer right before she and Troy broke up. The wall that was between them had started to break and Gabriella shakes her head.

"We're just friends Sharpay, we're not dating." Gabriella responds and Sharpay shrugs. Gabriella let her eyes look down again. What had just happened was scary, and it just happened so quickly that she didn't know what to do. Troy had no reason to blow off the way he did but she understood that it was his emotions talking right now. She sighs as she wishes she could help him.

"Not yet at least…"

* * *

The bell echoed in the English room and Gabriella watches as Troy bolts up out of his seat and out the door. Gabriella sighs as she realizes for the first time this year, she'll be walking to lunch alone. After the library incident, Chad said that he went and talked some sense into Troy. Which led to Troy apologizing bluntly to Kelsi and Sharpay for scolding them. Whether or not he really meant it, Gabriella wasn't sure. But Troy hadn't said a word since doing that and it was starting to scare her. Troy had never acted the way he did in the library. He had always been the one to keep his cool and this was a totally different side of him. And it scared the hell out of Gabriella.

After grabbing her lunch from her locker, Gabriella enters the cafeteria by herself and sits down at her normal table. Everyone silently looks up and her and gives her questioning looks. "Where's Troy?" Chad asks her and Gabriella figures they noticed that he didn't walk with her also. She shrugs her shoulders and sighs.

"I have no idea. He rushed out of English and I haven't talked to him since the whole library incident. By the way, are you alright Sharpay?"

Sharpay, who had been eating something out of Zeke's lunch, looks up surprised. Gabriella figures it was probably because Gabriella had never actually brought up a real conversation with this girl since the Lava Springs incident. She watches as the blond swallows and waves her hand. "You think a little comment like that will get to me? Wow Gabriella, for someone with straight "A"s, you're kind of dumb. People have been saying that for years. Now, Zeke I want to try this…" She points to a food object and Gabriella rolls her eyes. So much for making an effort to be nice.

"I understand why he got mad though, we did push him too far. I guess I just wanted him to know that I want him to be ok." Zeke says and hands Sharpay the cupcake she was pointing at. Suddenly, an idea runs through Gabriella's mind. She stands up and everyone stares at her questioningly.

"Where are you going?" She hears Ryan call back behind her as she starts walking up the steps of the balcony. She looks down to see Chad smiling up at her and gives her thumbs up. He understood where she was going, and she was thankful that he wasn't going to tell the rest of the group.

Gabriella quickly walks out of the cafeteria on the upper floor and runs over to a door to the left of her. She enters a biology room and opens a door that was next to a window. The sun shines brightly onto her face as she walks into the light and shuts the door behind her. Softly, she runs up the stairs and turns the corner to run up another flight of stairs. Once she reaches the top, she lets the Albuquerque warm air and the smell of plants fill her nostrils. She turns around to find what she was looking for. Troy was sitting on the bench that they had sat on many times last year in his "secret spot". His head was down in his hands and Gabriella figures he must not have heard her come up. She quietly walks toward him and knees down in front of him. She gently puts her hands on his knees and she feels him jump under her. His bright blue eyes shoot up to look at her and Gabriella stares at how blood shot they were. Tears were hanging on his cheeks and he quickly wipes them away.

"Gabriella… you scared me." He says as he tries to put on a fake smile, but she could see right through it. "I didn't hear you come up."

"I'm sorry." She says softly and moves over to sit down next to him. Troy looks away from her and Gabriella figures it's because he doesn't want her to see he was crying. She takes a deep breath and places a hand on his forearm, but doesn't say a word.

"I just got a call from my dad." Troy starts looking at the ground. "He said my grandpa's fine but they're keeping him in the hospital for two days."

"That's great!" Gabriella exclaims and Troy just nods.

"How mad are they at me?" He asks her and Gabriella narrows her eyes in confusion. But then it hits her that he's talking about the gang and his outburst before.

"They're not; they were just concerned about you." Gabriella watches as Troy turns his head around to face her finally. He sighs and looks down embarrassed with himself. "You really scared us this morning. It wasn't like you to yell like that."

"I didn't mean to act like a complete ass. It's just, I told them I didn't…"

Gabriella cuts him off before he can go any further. "I know Troy, alright? I know. They pushed it too far and you just exploded. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She watches as Troy nods and wipes his eyes again.

"I'm just…" He looks up into her eyes so Gabriella stares into his crystal blue ones, with red shinning where the white should be. "I'm just scared. What if he didn't make it?" Gabriella's heart starts to break with his. She throws her arms around his neck and leans into her favorite spot in his neck. She feels him start to tremble a little, reminding her of when they broke up this summer. Gabriella closes her eyes and rubs his back as he continues to let the tears fall. Without thinking, she lightly kisses his neck and his shaking begins to slow down. He clutches her tightly and then releases her a little so she looks up at him and gives him a comforting smile. "I'm sorry, I know I look like a complete idiot right now. Especially since he's fine." Gabriella looks at him confused then realizes that he's a guy and his male pride is kicking in. He didn't want her to see him cry.

"Troy, it's me. You can talk to me about anything and not feel embarrassed." She watches as he nods and continues to keep her hands around his neck. Troy's move down to the sides of her stomach and rest them on her hips. It gives her the shivers.

"Look, I know this is a lot to ask, but I have a favor." Gabriella looks deep into his crystal blue eyes. Gabriella smiles at him again.

"Anything." She whispers.

"Will you come with me to the hospital after school? I know you really don't know him but it would mean a lot to me if you came." His eyes were pleading and Gabriella nods, knowing that this is truly what he wanted. Why he didn't take Chad she wasn't sure. But she was certain that he needed someone right now. And she was going to be that someone.

"I'd love to come with you." She says and he slightly smiles. She smiles back knowing that she's doing the right thing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks for reading guys! I know these chapters are slow right now but I'm trying to lead into something else. Thanks again! 


	8. He Has Me

Her feet pick up, one after the other after the other. She could feel her legs begin to feel numb but it wasn't going to stop her. Chloe quickly picks up speed as she shoots out of the curve to run the last hundred meters. Her arms begin to pump harder as she keeps her eye on the white line that was just fifty meters away now. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body which gave her the last burst of energy. With just a few large strides, her foot steps over the line. After striding out a few steps after the finish, Chloe puts her hands on her knees and gasps for breath. She knows she's supposed to put them over her head but it really didn't matter to her at the moment. It had to be a new PR and she wasn't even wearing her spikes. Chloe looks up to see a black-haired girl running toward her. "YOU DID INCREDIBLE!" Gabriella yells and throws her arms around Chloe's neck, which almost makes her fall over because she hadn't totally regained her strength yet. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Chloe takes in a deep breath. "Thanks." She pants and stands up straight. They were in gym and Mr. Guerrero was having them run a 400 on the track in groups of four, two boys and two girls. This made Chloe especially thrilled because it was the race she usually ran it during meets, and was her favorite race. Usually, Chloe wouldn't try this hard for a gym activity, but Troy had mentioned to her that he was not only the JV basketball coach, but also the head track coach. She wanted to leave Mr. Guerrero a good impression for next season.

"Hey track star!" She hears a male voice come from behind her and looks over her shoulder to see Troy smiling and Chad at his side. Troy had become in a much better mood since lunch and Chloe figured it was because Troy had gotten a call from his dad saying his grandfather was going to be alright but they were still keeping him for two nights. He was still concerned, and everyone knew that, but he was at least acting more like his normal self then earlier in the day. She also thought he was in a better mood because Gabriella told her how they were going to the hospital after school together. "Man that was incredible."

Chloe shrugs. "Thanks Troy. I just hope you weren't the only one to think so." She gestures over to Mr. Guerrero who was quickly walking over to where the four of them were standing.

"Miss. Roberts! That was outstanding for someone without spikes on. Your time was 62.88 seconds. Very impressive. I hope you're not going to let that talent go to waist now."

Chloe feels herself smile brightly. "No, Mr. Guerrero, I was planning on going out for the track team this spring, if there's a spot open."

Mr. Guerrero nods. "Of course. I'll have to give you the information closer to when the season starts. But anyways." He looks at his clipboard for a moment. "Montez, you and Myles, you guys are up and…" He glances at his clipboard once again. "What are the odds of that, Bolton and Johnson, you guys go with them." Chloe figures the "odds" are that Troy and Gabriella were going together. She hears Gabriella groan next to her and looks over at her.

"What's wrong?" She asks as they start to make their way closer to the starting line. But her question becomes answered when she looks up to find Bridget walking toward the starting line as well. She never knew what Bridget's last name was until today. Gabriella gives her an annoyed look and Chloe smiles. "Just kick her ass for me please."

Gabriella smiles and walks over to the start line and stands next to Peter Johnson, who was on the football team. Bridget stands beside her and looks over to where Troy was, closest to the inside of the track. Gabriella watches as she waves her fingers at him and she rolls her eyes. Troy half smiles and waves back. He then turns to Gabriella. "Can you keep up Montez? It's gonna be a fast pace. Can you handle it?"

Gabriella smiles at him as she realizes that he meant it to sound like they were going to have sex instead of run a 400 for gym class. She can hear Peter laughing at the two and Bridget lets out an annoyed sigh. So she plays along. "Oh I can do it; it's short and fast, even though I think I like long and hard better."

Troy gives her a smile. "That's valuable information; I'll have to remember that one."

"You wish Bolton." Gabriella responds.

"I don't have to wish." Troy says and she feels herself go bright red.

"Umm, if you guys are done, I really want to go so I can get this over with" Bridget says in a jealous and annoyed tone. Troy rolls his eyes and Gabriella steps up to the line, ready to shove that last comment right up Bridget's ass.

Back behind the runners, Chloe watches as Gabriella takes a better position to get ready. She wanted Gabriella to beat Bridget so bad, to be able to shove this in her face. "Come on Gabs." She says under her breath and hears Chad laugh.

"It's just gym class, it's not state or anything like that."

Chloe sighs. "I know, but she can't let Bridget win, otherwise she'll never hear the end of it." Chad nods in understanding and Mr. Guerrero walks toward the start line.

"On your mark." He says and then brings the whistle up to his mouth and blows. All four of them take off with Peter leading the pack. Chloe watches as they reach the end of the first curve which is the 100 and Troy goes to Peter's right to pass him up. Gabriella is a few seconds behind Peter but Bridget was only about a half a step behind her. Chloe crosses her fingers and watches as Troy beautifully strides out on the straight away. She knew he was an overall good athlete but she never had any idea he was this good. Troy distances himself away from Peter and starts to turn onto the second curve which is the 200 while Gabriella tries to close the gap a little between her and Peter. Chloe watches in horror as Bridget starts to move to her right to pass Gabriella. Luckily, Gabriella reaches the 200 just in time and starts to turn, distancing herself away from Bridget. Troy starts on the straight and pumps his arms and strides out his legs. He had perfect form, which was no surprise. Peter comes next and Gabriella comes out of the curve closely behind. Bridget had dropped speed and the gap between her and Gabriella became bigger. Gabriella moves her legs at top speed and comes up right behind Peter on his right. Troy takes his last few strides and crosses the line, almost looking like little effort was given. Chloe smiles as Peter crosses the line next with Gabriella closely at his heals. About 10 seconds later, Bridget finally crosses with a pissed look on her face. Chad and Chloe run over to wear Gabriella was standing with her hands on her knees.

"You did fantastic!" Chloe exclaims and Gabriella nods. Chloe knew the look on her face which told her she was completely winded and was gasping for air. Troy, who was lying on the ground next to her, stands up, not winded or looking tired at all. He stands behind Gabriella and reaches down to where her hands were on her knees. Chloe swears she sees Gabriella shudder at his touch. He grabs her wrists and brings Gabriella up into a standing position and puts her hands behind her head. He then lets go and moves in front of her so he can see her.

"Keep your hands up there; you'll get more air that way." Chloe watches as Gabriella nods. She then glances over to find Bridget standing next to Jackie and Alexia with a jealous pout on her face. Chloe laughs and turns back to Gabriella.

"Troy that was great, it was a 57.24. That's pretty good for not having spikes on." Mr. Guerrero praises as he walks over to them. Troy nods and smiles.

"Thank you!"

Mr. Guerrero sighs. "So are you still going to stay with golf this spring or come join track like I've been saying since your freshman year."

Troy laughs and shakes his head. "I think I'm gonna stay with golf on this one Mr. Guerrero." The gym teacher nods and turns his direction to Gabriella.

"Gabriella that was also something. Your time was 68.67. Well done." Gabriella smiles in thanks and Mr. Guerrero walks away.

Chad looks over at Troy. "Man nice work. Not bad for a lazy golf player."

Troy rolls his eyes. "Right Chad, lazy. I'll remember that one for basketball season."

Chloe and Gabriella laugh as Chad rolls his eyes. Chloe looks over to see Troy smiling at Gabriella who was blushing back. She rolls her eyes. A thought crosses her mind that she thinks about for the rest of the hour. 'Why can't they just go out already?'

* * *

Troy stands at his locker with his arms crossed and one foot on the wall behind him. School had just gotten out about ten minutes ago and Troy told Gabriella to meet him by his locker. Most of the school and left since it was Monday and they wanted to get out as soon as possible. Just one or two people were left in the hallway with him. He sighs as he looks down thinking. He felt awful about how he had treated his friends this morning, but it didn't seem like they were mad so it was ok. He was just so shaken this morning; he thought his Grandpa was going to die. Troy and his grandpa were extremely close. His Grandpa was his dad's father and he used to take Troy everywhere. Memories of fishing when he was seven and camping over night in a tent rush to him. But his thought becomes interrupted when he hears a voice come from his side. 

"Still here? I would have thought you would have left." Troy watches as Bridget Myles starts walking toward him. He really didn't want to have to deal with her at the moment, so he secretly prayed that Gabriella would come around the corner at any time.

"Uh, yea I'm waiting for Gabriella." Troy says and scratches the back of his neck. Bridget smiles a fake smile and Troy tries everything in his power not to roll his eyes.

"Gabriella? Oh, I thought you two broke up this summer." She says. Troy feels himself become annoyed. What happened between him and Gabriella were between the two of them, and not some random girl.

"We did." He says bluntly and looks at the clock on the wall. Why wouldn't Gabriella hurry up?

"You know, it seems like she leads you on a lot." This makes Troy's head turn around quickly to look at Bridget.

"I don't know what you mean." He says still staring at her, wanting to know.

Bridget shrugs and flips her hair. "Well I don't know. It just seems like if she broke up with you, then why does she keep acting the way she does? I mean, don't you think if she really liked you, she would have stayed with you? It seems to me, and this is my opinion, that she just wants a thing then will move onto the next guy that comes her way."

Troy stares at her for a moment. Was this true? Did Gabriella really want just want a fling and then that's it, no strings attached? Some of what Bridget said made sense. If Gabriella really wanted to be with Troy, then she wouldn't have broken up with him and they would have just worked out their problems, right? Maybe she really doesn't even want him, or like him for that matter. All she was doing was playing the field and wanted a guy's attention and it was easy to get Troy's because he still liked her so much. Maybe she was trying to mess with him as revenge for the whole Sharpay thing.

Troy shakes his head to try and get the poisonous thoughts out of his brain. No, that was absolutely ridiculous. Bridget was just trying to break Troy…right? "Well thanks for the advice, but I think I can figure out my own love life for myself." Troy spits out coldly. Bridget looks offended for a moment then shrugs.

"I'm sorry Troy, but I just don't want to see you get hurt." Bridget says and places a hand on Troy's bicep. He stares at it for a moment, wanting her to remove her hand. "Just, if you ever feel like you need a shoulder to cry on." Troy raises his eyebrows when he realizes she's really saying, 'if you ever feel bad and want to have sex to raise your mood, call me' "Well, you know if you ever need someone to make you feel better, you always have…"

"Me." A voice echoes that didn't belong to Bridget. Troy looks up and smirks as he watches Gabriella stop in front of Bridget. He looks down to find Bridget remove her hand from his arm and tries to stare down Gabriella. 'Thank God' Troy thinks as Gabriella looks up and gives him a reassuring smile.

"Gabriella, I didn't hear you come." Bridget says eyeing Gabriella again.

"Yeah I bet." She responds in a cold voice and crosses her arms. "And just so you know, I'm pretty sure Troy's got his closest friends to turn to if he needs anything. So thanks for being so concerned about him but I'm pretty sure he's not an emotional train wreck right now."

It takes a moment for Troy to comprehend what she was saying, but then it dawns on him that she probably thought that Bridget was trying to comfort Troy about his grandpa, and she didn't hear the part about her. Troy suddenly realizes he better step in before the two girls rip each other apart. "Look, while I'm so glad that you're looking out for me Bridget, Gabriella and I have things to do." He lets the first part be a little more sarcastic then he really meant it to be, but it really didn't matter to him at the moment. Bridget gets a somewhat hurt look on her face before she quickly tries to cover it up.

"Oh, well I guess I'll see you later Troy." She responds and gives Gabriella one last dirty look before turning around and storming off. Troy rolls his eyes and then smiles when he looks at Gabriella. When he sees Bridget turn out of site, Gabriella turns to him and sighs.

"Sorry, I guess that was uncalled for but she was getting on my nerves." Troy nods and tries to smile, but Bridget's voice keeps echoing in his head. 'It seems like she leads you on a lot." Troy shakes his head to try and clear the thought. "Are you alright?"

Troy nods. "Yea, yea I'm fine."

"Sorry I'm late too." Gabriella continues as they start to walk toward the entrance of the school. "Taylor just wanted me to go over an interest survey for the Scholastic Decatholon team.

Troy opens the door to the front of the school and steps outside with Gabriella at his heals. "Scholastic Decatholon team? Isn't it a bit early to start that?"

Gabriella nods as she picks up her pace to keep up with him. Troy realizes that he's walking fast and tries to slow down. 'Leads you on' was spinning around in his head like a storm brewing. "Yea, but we're not starting practices yet, she just wants to send an interest survey around to see how many people want to go out for it. Are you sure you're ok Troy? You look really pale."

Troy opens the driver's side of the truck door and climbs in. Gabriella follows suit and sits in the passenger's side. 'She just wants a thing then will move onto the next guy that comes her way'. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. But Troy shoves it out of his mind for the moment. "Yea, Gabs I'm fine."

Gabriella looks up at him with hurt eyes, but Troy watches as she turns away. It takes him a moment to realize that he called her "Gabs" and not "Gabi" like he normaly does. "Oh, ok."

"I guess I must just be nervous to see my grandpa. Sorry Gabi." He quickly lies and tries to make up for the name error. Gabriella nods and turns back to look at him. Troy stares into her deep brown eyes and forces himself not to think about what Bridget told him for the rest of the night.

"So are you ready for this?"

Troy looks over at her once again and for the first time since gym, gives her a real smile. "As ready as I'll ever be."


	9. Not on Speaking Terms?

Gabriella was sitting on her bed, attempting to do homework, but she had too much on her mind. More than a week had past since she had gone with Troy to visit his Grandfather in the hospital. The oldest Bolton was happy to see his grandson and his "good friend" that Troy had told him so much about. Just as the doctor predicted, he had left two days after the initial heart attack. Gabriella was relieved to find that Troy seemed to be back to normal in the past couple of days, but she was a extremely concerned about how Troy seemed to be a little distant toward her lately. It wasn't that he wouldn't talk to her; it just seemed that for so long, they had been flirting pretty heavily and it seemed that Troy was a little more serious around her. Lately, he had barely touched her. The last time he had hugged her was the night they went to visit his grandfather and he thanked her afterward. It was driving Gabriella insane.

Gabriella sighs once again and looks at the picture that was framed on her nightstand. It was one they took at prom, with Troy's arms wrapped around her waist. Her back was to his front and their hands were intertwined. She had a white dress on which complimented his black tux and blue shirt underneath. She sighs as she wishes that she could just to back to then, when her biggest Troy problem was whether or not her boutonnière would go with Troy's outfit. She sighs once again then hears her door open. Gabriella looks up to see her mother standing in the frame. "Hey honey, sorry I'm late, I got caught up at the office."

Gabriella smiles at her mother. "It's fine, Mom. How was work?" She asks as her mother comes in a kisses her daughter's forehead. Gabriella loved how close she and her mother were to each other. She was like Gabriella's best friend and she could tell her anything.

"It was long, and I'm glad to be home." She says and sits down on Gabriella's bed. The youngest Montez gives her mother a small smile which only had half heart in it. She was still thinking about Troy.

"Ella, what's wrong?" Gabriella can't help but giggle a little. Everyone called her different things. To her friends, she was Gabs, to her mother, she was Ella, and to Troy, she was Gabi. "You've seemed a little down all week."

Gabriella sighs and figures her mom probably had a good guess on what it was about, so she might as well just tell her the rest. "Well, it's not really a big deal or anything, but I guess it's Troy."

Mrs. Montez smiles and nods. "I should have known. What did he do?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "No mama, it's not really what he did. It's more, what he didn't do. I don't know, ever since last week it seems like he's distanced himself from me a bit. I don't know, I guess I just got my hopes up and thought… never mind it was stupid."

Her mom shakes her head. "No honey, it's not stupid. You thought Troy was going to ask you out again didn't you?" Gabriella stares at her mother for a second wondering if it was possible that she just read her mind, because that's exactly what she thought. Gabriella nods and her mom sighs. "Honey, you just have to give it time. Has Troy stopped talking to you period?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "No, he hasn't."

"Well, maybe he's just as confused as you are. Ella, Troy went through a lot last week with his grandfather. I'm sure he's still pretty shaken up from that. Just give him time." With that her mom kisses her forehead and gives her a reassuring smile. "If I know Troy like I think I do, I know he'll come around."

"Thanks Mama." Gabriella says and her mom gives her one last reassuring smile.

"Dinner will be ready soon ok honey?" Gabriella nods and her mom leaves the room. She sinks back onto her bed and grabs the picture from prom one more time to see Troy's face smiling up at her. 'What if I don't want to wait?'

* * *

The two days later, Gabriella is sitting in AP biology the next day, daydreaming about what else? Troy. He hadn't said a word to her for the past two days and it was really starting to bug Gabriella. Wasn't he the one to say that she was the only one for him? Then why was he acting like a complete asshole? It wasn't like Gabriella was just being paranoid about it. Taylor had also made the comment, "Why aren't you and Troy all over each other?" He had to be doing it on purpose. And it was driving her insane.

"Miss. Montez, did you hear me?" The biology teacher, Mrs. Finley, snaps Gabriella out of her trance. Gabriella looks around to find everyone standing up going to the lab in the back of the room but her. She stands as well and shakes her head.

"Sorry Mrs. Finley,." She says and goes to her lab table by herself. Normally, Gabriella would be lab partners with Mandy, one of the cheerleaders in Gabriella's gym class who was against Bridget, but she was sick today. So Gabriella was stuck by herself. Mrs. Finley walks over and hands her a container that looks like a cookie sheet, only Gabriella knew better. They were dissecting cats today. She groans, not wanting to do anything to the animal, even thought it was dead.

"I love the face Gabs." Someone states and Gabriella looks up. A senior with dirty blond hair that fell over his forehead, sort of the way Troy's did but a little longer, starts walking toward her. He was muscular, with a great body that most girls would dream to have as their boyfriends. She recognizes him as Nate Collins, one of the basketball players she gotten to know when she was dating Troy.

"I'm really not in the mood to cut up a cat today." Gabriella says to him and he laughs then comes behind the table beside her.

"Well that makes two of us. Allen is sick so if you want, we can work together." He says with a smile and Gabriella laughs.

Gabriella suddenly gets an idea. "What if I said I didn't want to?" She asks, in a way that she would ask Troy when she wanted to flirt with him.

"Ouch, harsh, even for you Montez. But it looks like you're stuck with me unless you want to cut the cat by yourself." Nate responds and Gabriella playfully sighs.

"Fine, I guess you can work with me. Only because I'm being generous." It felt so damn good. Her anger and Troy was flowing out by flirting with someone else. Was it wrong? Probably, but it didn't matter to her. She was angry that she had not control over why Troy was not talking to her. And flirting with someone else gave her total control.

"Eww, that is disgusting." Nate says twenty minutes later. They had finished dissecting the cat and Gabriella giggles at the look on his face. "Man that thing is going to give me nightmares for the next month."

Gabriella giggles again. "I'm going to put this up in front." She grabs the tray and places it in the front of the room with the others. Gabriella then walks back to find Nate washing the table off. She had never really realized how nice of a guy Nate was until today. She sighs and smiles at him. "Look at you cleaning."

"Hey, I figured I'd do the dirty work for you at least once." He jokes and Gabriella nods.

"Well I appreciate it."

Nate looks up and makes eye contact with Gabriella. It was a change to look into. Nate's eyes were a soft green, while Troy's were a beautiful brilliant blue. Just like the way she noticed the difference of their hair. Troy's was chestnut brown that Gabriella would give anything to run her fingers through, while Nate's was dirty blond. It was in that moment that Gabriella realized that she was subconsciously comparing Nate to Troy. And although Nate was a nice guy, she realizes that nothing would ever compare to Troy. At that moment, the bell rang and the two walked out in step together. "You know… you're a lot cuter than Allen is."

Gabriella laughs at this. "Well thanks I guess?"

Nate gives her a smile and puts his arm around her shoulder. "It was a compliment, and for the record, you can work with me in Bio any day."

Gabriella smiles and looks up to find she's near her locker. Taylor was standing at her own, which was only a few lockers down since McKessie and Montez both started with the same letter in the alphabet. Gabriella smiles as she finds Chad's hand in Taylor's. But what really caught her attention was the chestnut haired, basketball star standing next to Chad, staring at Nate's arm that was draped around Gabriella's shoulder. Her smile gets even wider as Troy's eyes turned to their icy stare of jealousy. Suddenly, Gabriella comes up with an idea. If she tried to make Troy jealous, then maybe he would think that he had to get to her first, so he would ask her out sooner. It made sense didn't it? The two finally make it to her locker and Gabriella spins around. "Thanks for walking with me. I'll see you around then?"

Nate nods and walks up to Troy and Chad to say hi. Chad smiles happily, since everyone on the basketball team were such great friends, but Troy on the other hand, remains silent. Gabriella turns around to open her locker. She tries to avoid the piercing blue eyes that she could feel on the back of her neck as she opens her locker to get her English things out. "I didn't know you and Collins were good friends." She hears Chad ask her as she pulls out her books and shuts her locker.

"He was just being a nice guy. My partner for Bio was gone so we worked together." She says with a smile as she turns to her friends.

Taylor and Chad nod their heads. Gabriella finally makes eye contact with Troy. His stare is so powerful Gabriella actually takes a step back to try and lessen it. He shakes his head and turns around and leaves. "Don't worry about him. I'm sure he's just jealous." Chad states openly like it's not a big deal and Gabriella sighs. "I don't think he's used to seeing you hanging out with other guys besides us."

Gabriella sighs. "Well maybe if he'd talk to me…"

Chad raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'If he'd talk to me'?"

"Troy hasn't talked to me in the past two days. And I have no idea why. Did I do something to piss him off?" Gabriella asks as all three of them start to walk toward their classes.

"He hasn't said anything to me about it. But I can ask him if you want me to." Chad offers and Gabriella nods with a smile.

"You're the best Chad!"

Taylor rolls her eyes. "Don't flatter him Gabs, it will only make his ego bigger than it already is." Chad stands there looking offended and then Taylor kisses him. They break apart and Gabriella waves once she reaches the English room. "See ya Gabs."

Gabriella waves and walks inside the classroom to find Troy avoiding her gaze as she sits in the desk in the back of the room.

* * *

Troy throws the locker-room door open and storms inside. Nathan Collins? What the hell did she see in Nathan Collins? Sure, Troy was friends with him because he was on the basketball team. And everyone knew he was a nice guy. But NATHAN COLLINS? Troy sighs to try and calm himself down and opens his gym locker to get ready for class. Bridget was right; Gabriella was just playing the field. He should have seen it coming. Why would Gabriella want to go out with him again anyways? He did break her heart. After they had visited Troy's grandfather, he dropped her off and then did some thinking at home. He figured that if he tried to distance himself away from her, then if she really liked him and wanted to go back out with him, she'd come to him. But it didn't even seem like she gave a damn whether or not he was talking to her or not. Bridget was absolutely right, and he was too blind to actually see the truth.

"Hey man." He hears a voice come from beside him and breaks him from his trance. Troy nods at his best friend in greeting and then takes his shirt off to change into a different one. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."

Troy shrugs and takes off his jeans to reveal his boxers. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

It was Chad's turn to shrug as he takes off his own shirt. "Maybe with what happened with Nate and Gabriella?"

Troy's body tenses up. Even the names together sounded disgusting. Nate and Gabi, Gabriella and Nate. No. Troy and Gabi or Gabriella and Troy sounded so much better to him. "Why would that bother me? We're not dating anymore. She's allowed to fuck any guy she wants and I don't give a shit."

Chad shakes his head. "Yes you do. You're lying, Troy so don't try and hide it." Troy adverts his gaze to anywhere but his best friend. "So why aren't you talking to her?"

Troy finally looks up. "Who said I'm not talking to her?"

"She did." Chad responds and sits down on the bench beside Troy. "She said so after you stormed off earlier today."

"Well she could make a little effort too." Troy spits out coldly. "Oh yea, that's right. She's too busy screwing Nathan Collins."

Chad rolls his eyes. "Man, don't be like that. You know she likes you so stop acting like she doesn't."

"Just stay out of this Chad alright?" Troy says coldly once again as he stands up and is about to walk through the door to enter the gym when Chad puts a hand on his left shoulder.

"You're right Troy, it's not my place. And I know you better then anyone else out there." Troy looks up at his best friend who was looking at him concerned. "And you can do whatever you want, but as your best friend, I'm telling you…" Chad pushes the door open to reveal Gabriella standing by the bleachers with Chloe and a bunch of cheerleaders. "Don't do anything stupid, cuz otherwise, you're gonna loose her forever."

Troy nods and smiles at Chad. "Thanks Chad. You being there means a lot to me. But I gotta do this one on my own."

Chad sighs as they walk into the gym and grab two basketballs that were on the crate. Troy shoots and makes a perfect three pointer. "I hope you know what you're doing captain."

Troy nods as he feels a pair of two brown eyes drilling a hole into his back but he refuses to turn to look at them. He takes another three and says under his breath, "I hope so too."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter sucks but it's supposed to lead you into what's going to happen next. Thanks for reading! 


	10. Friday Night's Alright

Gabriella opens the door to her house and sighs. It was Friday, the best day of the week, right? Wrong. Gabriella was left with no plans and she was in somewhat of a bad mood since it had been a full four days since Troy had talked to her last. She walks into the kitchen and sets her bag on the kitchen table. She sits on the table and puts her head in her hands to think. She and Nate had continued to be partners in Bio since neither Mandy nor Allen had returned to school yet. She liked Nate, he was a nice guy, but she took every opportunity to flirt with him in front of Troy, which usually led to Troy storming off or just giving them a death glare. Serves him right. He was the one who decided not to talk to her. He deserves everything he was getting. And Gabriella wasn't going to cave before he would.

Gabriella hears a door close in the distance and finds her mom walking into the kitchen with a bag of groceries. "Hey Ella!" Her mom greets her happily. "The office let me go early today so I went to the store to get dinner."

Gabriella smiles half-heartedly and grabs some of the food products in the bag. "Hey Mama."

After finishing with the groceries, Gabriella sits on top of the counter and grabs a handful of grapes. "So do you have any plans for tonight?" Mrs. Montez asks her and Gabriella shakes her head.

"No, I don't…" As soon as she starts, her cell phone ring tone, "I'd lie" by Taylor Swift, goes off and Gabriella picks it up not even bothering to look at the name. "Hello?"

"Hey, I'm having the girls over, and you're coming." Gabriella's mouth drops when she hears the voice. She couldn't believe Sharpay Evans had just asked her to step foot into her house. It was something that would never had been done before she was going out with Zeke. "So come by seven."

A realization dawns on Gabriella. "Wait! Sharpay, I don't know where you live."

Gabriella hears the blond laugh into the phone. "It's the big house on Shepard Road. It's impossible to miss it. Ok buh bye." Sharpay hangs up without a further word from Gabriella. She closes the phone and stares at it confused for a moment. The she looks up at her mother who was staring at her.

"Is it alright if I go to Sharpay's tonight?" She asks quietly and her mother's eyebrows rise.

"Sharpay, as in Sharpay Evans?" Gabriella nods and her mom continues to stare at her confused. "Isn't that the same girl who…"

"Yes, Mama it is." She informs her mother not wanting to hear Troy's name come up. "She's having the girls over, can I go?"

Her mother nods and smiles. "Yes, that would be alright. Just be home by 11:30 ok?" Gabriella smiles in thanks and kisses her mom's cheek.

About three hours later, Gabriella finds herself pulling up to a huge house built into a large hill. She pulls into the circle driveway and parks her blue civic behind what she recognizes as Taylor's green car. After stepping out of the car, she looks up at the house for the first time and her jaw drops. It was gorgeous. The outside had two sections of the house sticking out on either side with white clay. In the middle section, which was a little farther back, was tan brick with a balcony coming out from a huge window in the center. There were two trees on either side of the front door and as Gabriella walked further toward it, the door had a giant "E" written on it. Gabriella figures it must stand for their last name. She timidly rings the door bell and waits. After a few moments, the giant door opens and there stands a woman with a smile on her face. "Hello, you must be here for Miss. Evans."

Gabriella nods. They even had maids? No wonder this girl was so spoiled. She walks inside the door and gazes in awe. There were two large stair cases on either side leading up to the top where a balcony was. The room had white marble floors and a very fait light blue paint on the walls. The maid leads Gabriella up one of the staircases and leads her down a long hallway. Gabriella took notice to every thing just incase she got lost in the huge house. They stop in front of a room with a giant "SE" carved onto the wood. The maid knocks on the door twice and then opens it to find girls giggling inside. Gabriella steps inside and the maid shuts the door. "Gabriella!" Taylor says and runs over to give her best friend a hug. Gabriella smiles back and then lets go of Taylor. Chloe, Kelsi and Sharpay also greet her.

"Wow, Sharpay, your house is incredible!" Gabriella exclaims and absorbs her surroundings in the room. The walls were pink, of course, and she had a red comforter on her king size bed that had four pillars to it. Her room was about the size of Gabriella's living room and half the kitchen combined. She had a huge silver flat screen TV which the girls were playing Dance Dance Revolution on. Gabriella also saw a pink computer in the corner. There was a big window in the back of the room that led onto a balcony about twice the size of Gabriella's. As she looked out the window, she could see a giant pool that resembled the pool at Lava Springs. The pool was located in the center of the house and it was in the court yard which looked gigantic. Gabriella gets the idea that it would be perfect for a party.

"Thanks." She says enthusiastically and Gabriella sits on her bed. "If you need to use the bathroom, there's one right there." She points to another white door that led to what looked liked to Gabriella a spa. "And there's one down this hall."

"Where's Ryan?" Gabriella asks since she didn't see him when she came in. But then again, you might never see a person in this house it was so big.

"Oh he's out with the rest of the guys." Taylor answers for Sharpay. "They're all at Zeke's house."

Sharpay nods. "Since they're having a guys' night, I figured we could have a girls' night!" Sharpay responds and Gabriella nods. "You want anything to eat? I can have Mario bring you up something."

Gabriella shakes her head. "No I'm ok thank you." She was surprised on how well Sharpay was treating her. For a girl who she constantly had issues with last year and during the summer, Sharpay seemed to have buried the hatchet. Which was good news for Gabriella and she wasn't complaining.

"Come on Gabriella, I wanna play you in this next." Kelsi says as she steps up to the dance pad for a challenge. Gabriella smiles and stands beside her.

* * *

"Come on Zeke! You can do better than that!" Jason exclaims as he moves his hands rapidly on the game controller. Zeke and Chad were squaring off in a basketball video game in Zeke's living room. Jason was watching intently, and Ryan and Troy were sitting on the couch lazily. Ryan had suggested earlier in the day that all of them had a guy's night to themselves without the girls and Zeke offered his house up. Ryan was extremely grateful that he was now a part of their group, for he couldn't have asked for better friends. Sure, he loved his sister, but just being friends with the drama club was starting to get extremely old. 

"I'm trying I'm trying!" Zeke exclaims as the buzzer sounds on the game and Chad throws his hands up in the air in victory. "Man, you cheated!"

"I did not!" Chad says and shrugs his shoulders. "Zeke, do you have any food? I'm starving."

Ryan looks over to find Troy roll his eyes. "Chad, when are you NOT hungry?"

Everyone laughs. "Well, there's the time… wait no… or how about… wait no I got a corn dog then… God I really don't know!"

The guys laugh again and they walk into the kitchen to see what he had. Ryan watches as Zeke pulls out a pizza and turns the oven on. "So I wonder what the girls are doing."

Ryan had told all of them that they were all headed over to his house to have a girls' night. Troy props himself on the counter and Chad shrugs. "Who knows, they're girls!"

They all laugh. "Hey, you're whipped by one of them!" Zeke responds.

Chad rolls his eyes. "Yea and you're not? 'Oh Sharpay… here let me make you a brownie… or maybe a cookie!'" They all erupt in laughter again as Zeke throws a towel at him.

"Actually… four of us are dating one of them." Jason observes and Ryan shakes his head.

"Wait; there are only three of you." He says, confused that seniors in high school really couldn't count.

"Well not really, Troy over here is practically married." Jason throws another towel at Troy while Ryan, Jason and Zeke laugh. But Ryan observes Troy's face get hard and he glances at Chad, who also had a straight face on. Something wasn't right.

"It takes two people who like each other, not just one." Troy mumbles and the three of them exchange confused glances.

"What are you talking about?" Zeke asks and Chad shakes his head at him.

"I don't want to talk about it, alright?" Troy responds looking away and Ryan puts into the back of his mind to ask him about it later. But then Chad's attention turns to him, probably to distract Troy from whatever was on his mind.

"So Evans, who's on your mind lately?" Ryan groans, not wanting to talk about it. There was no way it was going to happen anyways, so it really didn't matter.

"Ah, no one really." The entire guy crowd closer to him and shake their heads. It was the honest truth. Right before the Lava Springs Talent show, he had a thing for Gabriella, but knew he couldn't prosue it since everyone knew Troy and Gabriella belonged together. And now, she was one of his best friends and he had no feelings for her beyond that.

"Come on Evans, who do you like?" Jason coxes and Ryan shrugs.

"Hey now, I said I didn't like anyone!"

Troy rolls his eyes. "Leave the poor guy alone guys. When he says he doesn't like anyone. He doesn't."

Chad shakes his head. "Fine, but this isn't the end of this Evans, trust me." Ryan shrugs and adjusts the hat that he was wearing. They all back off and turn to the pizza that was cooking in the oven. Ryan looks up at Troy who was still sitting on the counter. Troy's head moves and the two boys make eye contact with each other. Ryan thanks Troy through his glance and Troy nods in understanding.

* * *

Laughter erupts from Sharpay's bedroom. Gabriella finds herself rolling on the floor as Taylor turns a deep shade of red. The girls had decided to play truth or dare and Taylor had just gotten done going to Ryan's room and grabbing a pair of his boxers that had microphones on them. She drops them on the floor and shakes her head. "I swear I got lost just trying to get to his room!" 

Sharpay wipes her eyes and calms down. "Ok Taylor, you choose now."

"Ok, let's see here." Taylor scans the faces of the four other girls. "Kelsi, truth or dare?"

Kelsi closes her eyes and then opens them again. "Well since your probably on a revenge rage for having to get Ryan's boxers… I'd have to go with truth."

Taylor smiles. "Ok, have your parents ever caught you and Jason making out?"

Kelsi turns bright red and nods. "Once, we were home alone and it was the first time we really did it. My parents walked in early on us in the living room. I had to get the sex talk afterwards." The girls laugh and then Kelsi smiles.

"Ok, Chloe, truth or dare."

"Truth." Chloe says confidently.

"Who do you like?" Kelsi asks and Chloe briefly shrugs her shoulders.

"No one."

"Liar." Sharpay says and Chloe shakes her head,

"No it's the truth. I really don't like anyone. I just moved here a month ago guys. Give me a little time."

Sharpay rolls her eyes. "Hun, you don't have much more time. Homecoming is in three weeks." Gabriella stomach drops. With all the drama about trying to get Troy jealous, she completely forgot about homecoming. What if they hadn't made up by that time? She really wanted to go with Troy, but what if he didn't want to go with her anymore?

"Well then I'll just go alone. It's no big deal." Gabriella smiles at the confidence that Chloe has for herself. Chloe's eyes then lock on Gabriella.

"Gabs, truth or dare."

Gabriella, really not wanting to do anything daring, decides on the other option. "Truth."

Chloe smiles. "What's with you and Nate lately?"

Gabriella watches as all the girls prop up on their knees. She starts to wonder if they had been waiting for someone to bring this up all night. Gabriella sighs and shrugs. "Nothing, we're just friends; it's not a big deal."

"You don't act like friends." Sharpay comments bluntly. "Ever since you and Troy stopped talking it's like it's all about Nate."

Gabriella sighs. "I don't like Nate like that. He's just a friend. It's not really a big deal."

Kelsi shrugs. "It is a big deal. I heard that he likes you and is thinking about asking you to homecoming."

Gabriella shrugs. "So? If he asks me, then he asks me."

Sharpay gives her a smirk. "But he's not the one you want to go with is he Gabriella?"

She looks up at the blond sitting on her own bed. It was funny how just a few short months ago, Sharpay would have done ANYTHING to make Troy her's. And now she was drilling Gabriella about whether or not she liked Troy or not. Funny how things can change so quickly. "Well, there obviously is someone who I'd rather go with more. If he'd ever talk to me again."

Taylor rolls her eyes. "Gabs, Troy can't last that long not to. I think he would literally explode. But in the mean time, what are you going to do about Nate?"

Gabriella shrugs. Almost on cue again, her cell phone plays "I'd Lie" and she looks down to find Nate's name in the caller ID. "It's Nate! What do I do?"

All four of the girls yell, "ANSWER IT!"

Gabriella nods and flips the phone. "Hello?"

"Gabriella, hey, it's Nate."

Gabriella smiles as she puts her finger up to her lips to quiet the girls. "Hey, what's up?"

"Not much, listen, what are you doing right now?" He asks on the other line.

"Hanging out with some friends, why?"

She almost hears the disappointment in his voice. "Oh well I was wondering if you wanted to go out for ice cream or something. But you're with your girls so I understand."

Gabriella smiles as she thinks of how crazy it would drive Troy if he found out that she went and hung out with another guy. "Well, how about tomorrow?"

She giggles a little as she hears his voice lift. "Yea! Ok, I'll call you tomorrow for when you want to go."

"Alright see you then!" She says and hangs up the phone. All the girls look at her and she smiles. "We're going to get ice cream tomorrow night. It's not a date or anything…"

Kelsi, Sharpay and Chloe squeal a little but Gabriella stares at her best friend who was shaking her head. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?" Sharpay asks for Gabriella.

"Because, Gabriella you don't even like him! Do you think it's right to lead him on like this? And what about Troy?" Taylor asks her and Gabriella shakes her head. For once her best friend didn't understand what was going on.

"What about him? I don't belong to him and he's not talking to me anyways. Plus it's not even a real date. We're just going to get ice cream. It's not like we're getting married or anything."

Taylor shrugs and shakes her head. "It's your choice I guess. I still don't think it's right but if that's what you want. But Gabs, I just have to say, I hope you know what you're doing."

Gabriella nods and sees Troy's hurt face in her mind. She sighs and thinks to herself, 'I hope so too'.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I know this chapter sucks and I really don't like it that much but thanks for sticking in there. Thanks for reading! 


	11. Not a Date

**Chapter 11**

Troy's eyes open and take in the unfamiliar setting. But he then remembers how he had slept over at Zeke's the night before and all five guys were sprawled out on the Baylor's living room floor. He sits up groggily to find that the other four were still fast asleep. He sighs and lies back down again rolling over to his side thinking about, what else? Gabriella. But more to that, he was thinking about a talk he and Ryan had last night. It was incredible that someone who really wasn't even his friend last year, who had even try to ruin his chance at the musical, could give such great advice. Ever since their talk last night, Troy had a great deal of respect for Ryan.

_Chad's snores were echoing around the room and Troy rolled his eyes. He then continued to look at the movie, but found that he and Ryan were the only ones on the floor who weren't asleep. The other three had been out for the past twenty minutes. Troy's mind was spinning too hard to sleep. He could only think about Gabriella, Bridget's poisonous words, and Nate. Troy had to endure watching Nate and Gabriella flirt without being able to say anything to her. He felt helpless watching Gabriella fall for someone else, someone who wasn't him. But that feeling always turned into vicious anger and it forced him to stay away from her even more._

"_You alright?" Ryan's voice breaks into Troy's thoughts and he turns to look at the blond lying on a sleeping bag near him. Troy shrugs his shoulders, still not wanting to talk about it, especially to someone who wasn't Chad._

"_I'm hanging in there, why do you ask?" _

_Ryan laughs a little. "I don't think I've ever seen someone in such deep thought as you are right now." Troy smirks and shrugs his shoulders once again. "Wanna talk about it?"_

_Troy sighs. He was too tired to try and argue not talking about it and it wasn't like Ryan was going to go around telling people everything, right? Plus, Troy could just leave out a lot of the details. "It's Gabriella."_

_Ryan laughs again. "Well I knew that. You haven't talked to her at all in the past few days. What's going on?"_

_Troy looks up in the dark to make eye contact with the blond. "I don't know. I'm just getting the feeling that she doesn't like me anymore. I feel like I'm wasting my time and all she wants is a fling. And she's proving that to me by constantly being all over damn Nathan Collins."_

_Ryan's outline shakes his head. "She likes you Troy, anyone with eyes can see that."_

_Troy shakes his head. "That's not the point. I don't think she even wants to be with me anymore. I don't want a fling, I want her!"_

_Ryan nods in understanding. "Listen, Troy, I'm not a romance expert or anything, but I don't think that ignoring Gabriella is going to help. It's only going to drive her away more. And as for whether or not she wants to be with you? I can't answer that, only she can. But acting like a jackass isn't going to help your chances."_

"_I know. I just thought maybe if I'd pull away a bit, I would be able to see if she'd work for me. I know, it was a stupid idea." Troy adds in and Ryan shakes his head._

"_No, it makes sense kind of. But to be honest, I think it backfired on you. Instead of coming after you, she pulled away to see how badly you want her. And to be honest, I think Nate is just a way to try and make you jealous. Troy, she really likes you."_

_Troy looks up at him again. "How do you know?"_

_Ryan actually laughs at this question. "Trust me, I know. And also trust me by saying that the more you don't talk to her, the farther away your going to push her. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I hope you do the right thing."_

_Troy nods and smiles. "Thanks Evans, this means a lot to me."_

_Ryan shrugs "Hey, what are friends for right?"_

_Troy smiles once more before closing his eyes. "Right."_

After staying up for a little while longer, Troy realized that Ryan was right. Not talking to Gabriella wasn't going to solve anything. Yes, he was still thinking about what Bridget said, but he was going to try and not let it bother him. He had to admit, that not talking to Gabriella was starting to drive him insane and if he didn't talk to her soon, he was pretty sure he was going to explode. 'I care about her too much to let her go like this'. Troy thinks to himself as he looks up at the ceiling. Come Monday, he was going to try to make things right again. Troy promised himself that things were going to go back to being how they were meant to be.

* * *

Gabriella looks in her mirror one more time, spinning herself to look at her from all angles. It was 7:50 PM and Nate had called her earlier in the day to tell her that he was going to pick her up by 8:00. Gabriella wasn't nervous at all. It wasn't a date so there was no reason to be nervous. Whenever she and Troy would go out, she used to get the butterflies in her stomach and couldn't wait until he came. Now, the butterflies were silent and she wasn't all that excited, so it couldn't be a date. Gabriella looks in the mirror at her outfit once more. She was wearing a grey t-shirt that hung loosely on her body and cut to a very wide V that stretched to her shoulders, with a white cami underneath. She had jeans and a brown belt on with a brown necklace that hung low around her neck. Her hair was in a half ponytail as well. She felt like she dressed down a lot. When she and Troy went on a date, she usually tried to look as cute as possible, even though she could be looking her ugliest and Troy would make her feel beautiful. It still didn't feel like she had anyone to impress so she didn't dress up. 

"Ella, someone's here!" Gabriella hears her mother call to her and she grabs her brown purse and leaves her room.

"Coming Mom!" She stops at the top of the stairs and reaches inside her pocket to feel the cold silver of the necklace that was there. Gabriella closes her eyes and bites her bottom lip as she finger's the "T". She still felt branded, even though she wasn't wearing it. Forgetting she was mad at him, and even though they weren't together, she suddenly felt guilty about hanging out with another guy. It wasn't even a real date, but she still felt she was cheating somehow. "Sorry, Troy." She whispers and hears the door open down below. Gabriella hears the doorbell ring and finds that it's her cue to walk down the steps and answer it.

Nathan's green eyes meet her and he smiles. "Wow, you look great!"

Gabriella smiles back. Nate was just wearing a black basketball t-shirt that she knew Troy had also, and jeans. She breathed a little easier that he wasn't dressed up much so it felt less like a date, because it wasn't. "Mom, I'm leaving! I won't be gone long." She calls into her house and waves to her mother as she walks out the door with Nate. She reaches his car, which was a silver Accord, and she hops in the passenger's seat.

"So, ice cream it is then?" Gabriella nods and looks out the window. The car was nice, but it wasn't as homey and when she was in Troy's car. Maybe it's just because she felt more comfortable being around Troy than Nate.

They talked about biology on the whole way to the ice cream place. When they finally arrive, he opens the door for her and Gabriella smiles half-heartedly. A flashback replays in her mind to two weeks ago.

_Troy opens the white truck's door for her and she smiles at him. "Suck up." She jokes and Troy shrugs._

"_Hey, if it gets me on your good side."_

Gabriella snaps herself back to reality as Nate leads her inside. It was small and cute, but extremely crowded. She looks around to find many little kids with their parents and other teenagers on dates. They head up to the counter and the lady behind the desk smiles at looks like she would rather be anywhere else. "Can I help you?"

"Um, I'll have chocolate in a cone." Nate says and Gabriella closes her eyes. Chocolate ice cream was Troy's favorite. "And Gabs what do you want?"

Gabriella freezes. This was the moment that he had to decide if it was a date of not. Because if he paid for her, then it was a date. And was that what she wanted? Finally, she sighs and shakes her head. "I'm separate from him."

He smiles at her and shakes his head. "Gabs, I'll pay for you, it's not a big deal. I asked you to come with me."

Gabriella shakes her head. "No Nate, I'd rather pay for myself."

The woman behind the counter shakes her head impatenietly. "Come on guys I don't have all day."

Nate rolls his eyes and nods. "Ok, if that's what you want. That's it then." Gabriella couldn't tell if he was hurt or not. It didn't look like it but you never know. He pays and steps out of the way. Gabriella then orders vanilla and the both receive their ice cream and sit down at a table. "You really didn't have to pay for yourself."

Gabriella shakes her head. "No, I did." He nods and she figures gets the point. But he puts a smile on that looks genuine so she breathes a little easier. "So are you excited for basketball season?" She asks him trying to change the topic. But as soon as they words leave her lips, she regrets them. Talking about basketball meant they would have to talk about the whole team, which included a certain Wildcats captain. But Nate smiles brightly.

"Yea! Troy's going to start having preseason practices on Monday." He pauses and looks at Gabriella.

Gabriella smiles and nods, even though she knew that already. Troy had been talking to Chad about it so many times it was hard to keep count. "So I've heard. It's all Chad has been talking about for two weeks."

Nate laughs at this. "Yea, I think the whole team's pretty excited. It's hopefully going to be a great year. But anyways, what about you? I mean, I know you did the scholastic decathlon last year, but are you going to do any thing else?"

Gabriella pauses at this. The fall musical rehearsals were already held on the Monday that she and Troy went to go visit his grandfather. Kelsi had been sad that the duo hadn't gone out for it, but Gabriella promised her that she would consider doing it for the winter musical. Sharpay and Ryan had both gotten the leads. She just didn't feel it was right to go out unless Troy was by her side doing it. "I don't know, I might go out for the winter musical again. But I'm not sure."

Nate nods to this. "Oh yea! I forgot you and Troy did that last year. It was great! Everyone loved it." Gabriella smiles to this. The audience wasn't the only ones who loved it.

She suddenly feels her phone vibrate in her purse and pulls it out. She had a text message from Taylor. _How's the ice cream going? _Gabriella shuts it not responding. She would call her best friend later and right now she didn't want to be rude to Nate. Gabriella looks up at Nate and smiles. He really was a nice guy, and could probably steal any girl's heart away if he wanted to. The only problem was that Gabriella's heart was already stolen, and Gabriella wasn't going to take it back anytime soon. They finish their ice cream and then walk back out the door. He drives her home and parks in front of her house.

"Thanks for inviting me, I was craving ice cream and this really hit the spot!" Gabriella says and Nate laughs.

"Well good. I wanted some last night too and I'm glad you could come with me to get some. It would have been boring if I just would have gotten some by myself. I'm glad a friend could come along." He responds and Gabriella laughs. But she secretly sighs in relief. He said "friend", so that meant he didn't mean this to be a date either.

"I'm glad I could help you make your life less boring." Nate laughs at her comment and Gabriella opens the door. She steps outside and then sticks her head back in. "Thanks again. I'll see you on Monday?"

Nate nods. "Yea, see you then! Bye Gabs." He says and then Gabriella shuts the car door and watches Nate drive off.

She walks into her house. "Mom, I'm home!" She walks into the living room to find her mother folding wash while watching something on TV.

"You're home early! It's only 9:30!" Gabriella shrugs and sits down to help her mother. "Did it go ok?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "Mama, it wasn't a date. Nate and I went out for ice cream as FRIENDS, nothing more."

Her mother nods. "Ok, ok. Did you have fun though?" Gabriella nods.

"Yea, I had a lot of fun. Nate's a nice guy and the ice cream was really good."

Mrs. Montez smiles. "Well I'm glad you had fun. You've been down all week and it seems like this weekend lifted your spirits up a bit." Gabriella smiles. Her mother was right. Ever since Troy stopped talking to her, she had been down. But this weekend truly was a lot of fun and she was happy that she had such great friends. The only thing that she would have changed was she wished that she and Troy would have been talking again. Gabriella smiles at her mother as they finish folding the clothing.

"Why don't I make some popcorn and we can watch a movie together." Her mom comments and Gabriella nods in agreement.

"I'd love that Mom." She says as her mother gets up to make the popcorn.


	12. Made Up Right?

Troy opens the door to East High and walks in. He came early, praying that it was one of the mornings that Gabriella would come early because she had to work on homework or something. He had told Chad what he was planning to do, and asked him to tell Taylor not to take her that morning. He wanted her to be by herself without a lot of people around them. Troy walks further into the school, butterflies in his stomach. What if she was extremely pissed at him and didn't want to hear what he had to say? What if she wanted nothing to do with him? Troy shakes his head trying to clear the negative thoughts. Ryan said that she still liked him, so that was going for him right? He turns the corner to the hallway which held Gabriella's locker and holds his breath. Looking up, he smiles as he sees two other people on the opposite side of the lockers and then the girl he was looking for alone at her locker.

Troy takes a deep breath and begins to walk over. She was looking inside her locker, moving her hair around and Troy figures that she was looking in the mirror. With every step he took, the butterflies grew more. Doubt was filling his chest and he finally reaches her locker. She doesn't turn so he figures she didn't notice he was there. He takes a deep breath one more time, thinking that this was it. "Hey Gabriella."

Her body tenses up and she freezes. Slowly, she turns her head and Troy melts. She looked beautiful, and he did everything in his power not to touch her. Her soft brown eyes lock onto Troy's blue. He tries to smile, but he felt that his mouth couldn't move. Her features harden as she rips her eyes away from him and looks back into her locker. "Oh, so is it, 'Talking to Gabriella' day today? Tomorrow, are you going back to NOT talking to me?"

"Gabriella. I'm sorry, ok? I know I've been kind of a jackass these past couple of days." He starts and she laughs, but not her normal laugh, more a sarcastic laugh. Troy cringes at the sound of it.

"You think?" He watches as she whips her head around and narrows her eyes at him. "Jackass is an understatement Troy."

He nods. "I know, I was a bastard. And I'm sorry."

"What, were you mad at me or something?" She says as she pops her hip out and looks at him impatiently. He was trying to avoid the reasoning behind why he was didn't talk to her. If he did tell her, then he'd have to say how he still liked her, and he wasn't going to admit that to her yet.

Troy shakes his head and looks down. "No."

"Did I say something to offend you?" She asks again and Troy doesn't look up at her. He was too ashamed and didn't want to tell her why he really wasn't talking to her.

"No." He says quieter than before.

"Then what? Did you just decide it would be fun to stop talking to me?" She says and Troy's head shoots up to make eye contact with her. There was pain her eyes Troy shakes his head.

"No, Gabriella it was none of that. Look, I was stupid and was trying to see something. It didn't work and I just ended up being a jackass. I'm sorry ok?" He says honestly.

She continues to stare him down and shakes her head. "What were you trying to see?"

He sighs and starts to rub the back of his neck. This was the exact question he was avoiding. "It doesn't matter. It was stupid and a waste of time and energy and I'm sorry." He looks back into her face to see that it was still hard. A sigh erupts from his lips and he nods. "I understand if you don't forgive me. I'll see you around Gabriella."

Troy turns to leave but is stopped. "Troy, wait!" He turns around to watch her sigh. She runs a hand through her hair and then looks up at him. "Look, I still don't know what the hell you were thinking, or what was so important that you had to put our friendship on hold." He watches and she shakes her head. "But I forgive you on one condition."

Troy's heart lifts again at her words. She just forgave him! "Anything."

The first smile he had seen in a long time plays on her lips as she looks deep into his blue eyes. "You call me Gabi again."

A smile forms on Troy's lips to match Gabriella's. "Well, it will be tough…" He teases and she smiles even brighter. He was so happy, words couldn't express how he felt at the moment. "But I think I can manage it."

Suddenly, without warning, Gabriella jumps into his arms. All the warm rushes back into his body as he feels her petite one on his. He picks her up and spins her around and then sets her back on the ground. She beams up at him and he stares down into her eyes. "I missed you!"

Troy laughs at this comment, but secretly feels thankful. "Hey, I was only not talking to you for like five days."

Gabriella blushes and shrugs. "Well, I guess I missed my best friend!" He's face lightens up. _Best friend_?

"Well, what about Taylor?!" He asks her with a smile and she shrugs again.

"Well, best guy friend." Troy rolls his eyes and then a dark girl runs in front of him and hugs Gabriella. He looks to his side to find Chad walking up next to him and he realizes that the dark blob must be Taylor. Chad pats him on the back and he smiles at his best friend.

"I'm so happy!" Taylor exclaims still clinging her best friend. Troy watches as Gabriella gives him a confused look over Taylor's shoulder.

"Why?" Gabriella asks and Taylor finally let's go of her.

"Because you and Troy are talking again! It's one big happy family once more!" She says and Chad rolls his eyes.

"One big twisted family is more like it." The three of them laugh and Troy looks around and realizes that the halls were filled again. He was so wrapped up with Gabriella that he didn't even notice Chloe, Ryan, Sharpay and Zeke and approached them as well.

"Everything's ok now?" Chloe asks the two who both beam and each other and nod. It was almost as if Troy and Gabriella had been reunited, but both knew that wasn't true. At least not yet.

"So Gabriella…" Sharpay starts holding Zeke's hand. "How was your date?"

Troy's body immediately tenses up again. Date? What date? She went on a date?! "Leading you on" enters his head again and he forcefully pushes it out of the way. He just got her to forgive him and he wasn't going to blow it now. "You went on a date?" He asks her and cocks his eyebrow. She spins around to look at him. Her eyes stare into Troy's as she speaks.

"First of all, it wasn't a date." Troy lets go of the breath he we holding. So it wasn't a date, then what was it? And with who? Why didn't anyone tell him these things anymore? She shakes her head. "Nate and I just went as friends, it was nothing more." Another pause. Nate! God for someone who Troy was fond of last year, he was really starting to hate the guy. "And I had a nice time."

Troy tries to control the jealousy that was flowing in his blood right now. It seemed that everyone was staring at him and all he wanted to do was find Nate and tell him to stay away from Gabriella. But he was better then that. He forces a smile to come out but it wasn't working well. With that, the warning bell rang and they all turn to head to homeroom except Troy and Gabriella. She was staring at him, probably still waiting for a reaction from him. He sighs and starts walking. "Come on, or Darbus is going to flip a shit." He watches as a smile forms on her face and they walk into Ms. Darbus' classroom together. Gabriella sits down in a seat next to Taylor and Troy sits down behind her with Chad behind Taylor. The bell rings again and Ms. Darbus enters the classroom shutting the door behind her.

"Welcome class! I hope everyone had a magnificent weekend. I have a few announcements to make though." She holds up a clipboard and then lowers her eyes to Chad who was holding an orange basketball in his hand. "Mr. Danforth! I've asked you numerous times to put your football away! Hand it over."

Chad's face slightly drops color. Chad ALWAYS had a basketball at hand. It got him through the school day; Troy knew that since sophomore year. He laughs slightly at the thought of Chad going a whole day without one. "But Ms. Darbus, your honor, I…"

"You know the rules Mr. Danforth. Now you can have it after school." She places her hands on the ball and Chad, although struggling a little, lets her have it and pouts in his seat. Gabriella and Troy were both trying to keep in the laughter that was coming out of their mouths. Taylor turns around and kisses his hand. He seems to get a little color back into his face at this action, but not much. "Thank you. Now, as I was saying. A few announcements. First of all, those gifted students in the fall music_ale_, there is an extra long rehearsal tonight." A squeal erupts from Sharpay and everyone turns to look at her. She looks around and mouths "what?" Troy rolls his eyes at this. "For those others who are involved in basketball." She looks from Troy to Chad and then returns back to her clipboard. Troy knew what was coming since he had to tell his dad so he could put it on the announcements. "The preseason practices begin today. Anyone who has any questions, feel free to contact our very own Mr. Troy Bolton." Troy feels all eyes turn on him and he gives his million dollar smile. Gabriella rolls her eyes and laughs. "Anyways, I've also been told to tell you that tickets for the homecoming dance that occurs two weeks from this Saturday will be on sale all this next week and the following week."

Troy eyes jump up to this. Homecoming, just another thing that he had to worry about. Suddenly, an idea pops into his head, making him smile. He had to ask Gabriella someway that would really be special, and he thought of the perfect way. Droning out Darbus' voice, he thinks of how he would set it up and how perfect it was going to be. It had to be, because he only had one shot to ask her. He was even impressed with his idea. After another ten mintues, the bell rings in Troy's ear and he stands up immediately, on a mission to find the person he needs to. But Gabriella looks at him strangely. "You wanna walk me to my locker?" She asks him hopefully but he immediately shakes his head. Although he would have given anything to be with her, he had business to take care of.

"I can't. I have to go do something. I'll see ya in English Gabi." He says and runs out the door once he notices that the person he was looking for wasn't in the room anymore. Troy takes a guess of where she is and runs somewhat toward his own locker but stops when he sees one of his best friends standing at his own locker. Seeing his girlfriend was there also, Troy runs over with a smile on his face. "Kelsi! I need your help."

The petite girl turns around and smiles at him. "Troy! What's going on?"

"I can't explain everything right now, but I need your help with asking Gabriella to homecoming. I have this idea and I need you. Will you help me?" He asks all in one breath and Jason laughs at him.

"Troy wow, slow down a bit." Jason says but Kelsi seemed to understand. She nods and smiles.

"I'd love to help you! When do you want to talk about it?" Troy thinks for a moment then turns to Jason instead.

"Dude, can I borrow your girlfriend after preseason practice tonight? Please it won't take too long." Troy begs and hears the warning bell. He was going to be late for calculus but it didn't matter right now. Jason smiles and takes Kelsi's hand.

"Of course it's fine. I'll see ya at lunch Troy!" He calls down the hall and Kelsi waves at him. He rushes to his locker and quickly grabs his calculus stuff and strolls off to class, feeling a hundred times better than an hour and a half ago.

* * *

Troy and Chad were shooting in the gym after school got out. Since they had gym last hour, they just decided to stay in their gym clothes in the gym since it wasn't an official practice, so they didn't need practice uniforms. Troy shoots a perfect three, feeling his game was back on since he and Gabriella had been talking again. And if felt incredible. He couldn't wait to get together with Kelsi after practice to discuss how he was going to ask Gabriella to homecoming. The plan was perfect and he couldn't wait to get started. 

"Wow, someone's on top of their game today." Chad comments and Troy shrugs.

"I'm just excited to finally be out on the court again for practice." Troy lies and Chad laughs.

"Or he could just be excited to be talking to a certain love again." Chad says and takes a free throw which makes it in perfectly. Troy laughs but doesn't deny it. "See, I told you."

"Whatever man…" Troy says, but he's beaming at the time. He hears a squeak shoes and turns around to face the team shuffling in. Jealousy suddenly rises in his body as he sees Nate walk out, talking with Zeke and Jason. 'Stop it Bolton, they're just friends and Gabriella even said it wasn't a date.' He thinks to himself, but can't help not to get over the feeling. Chad holds the basketball he was shooting with in his hands and Troy turns around. There must have been at least 25 guys there, but Troy remembers that some of the JV must have shown up along with a couple freshmen from the looks of it. He sighs and Chad nods at him to have him start.

"Alright, WILDCATS!" Troy yells and all of the talking dies down. He looks into the crowd to find that everyone was staring at him and he did his best not to give Nate a dirty look. "Welcome to preseason training. Those of you who don't know me, my name's Troy Bolton and I'm the caption of the varsity team. Before we start, I just want to say thanks for coming out today. It shows how dedicated you are and is truly appreciated. If you can't make some of these, don't worry, we understand. I know for sure two of the guys are on football and won't be joining us for a while." He smiles as he watches a couple of the freshmen breathe a little easier. He tries with all of his might not to go back down memory lane when he was a freshman. 'Focas Bolton' he tells himself. "Ok, does anyone have any questions?"

Troy scans the heads and when no one moves, he nods. "Alright, let's get started. I think we should just get to know each other first. So upperclassmen partner up with a lowerclassman and do a passing drill." With that, everyone starts to talk to one another. 'Something easy.' He says to himself. He turns to Chad who was still standing next to him and smiles. "You can partner up with someone older since you need a babysitter."

"Haha your funny Troy." Chad says and looks up in the bleachers. "We have an audience." Chad waves his hand and Troy looks over to find Taylor and Gabriella sitting down in the bleachers.

"Oh great, as if I didn't have enough pressure already." Troy mumbles under his breath and does his best not to look at Gabriella. Now was not a time to be thinking about her. He there were a couple freshmen who weren't paired up yet and Troy smiled at one who looked a little shy and reminded him of himself at the first preseason. He walks over to find that the boy reminded him a LOT of himself. He had dark brown hair that was like the way it was when he first met Gabriella and before he got his haircut to what it was during the summer and now. He was tan, just like Troy. Although, Troy was a couple inches taller and had more muscle than the kid did, but Troy figured it would change over time. He wasn't exactly the tallest freshman year either. He walks over and smiles at the kid who nervously smiles back. "Hey, I'm Troy. Do you have a partner yet?" The kid shakes his head and Troy nods. "Well you can work with me."

The kid smiles and nods. "I'm Kyle." He says and Troy hands him the basketball. They chest passed for about five minutes and Troy could already tell that this kid was going to be good.

He chest passes it once more. "Hey, great job." Kyle smiles and Troy walks toward the center of the gym. "Alright Wildcats. Get in two lines under the hoop. The line with the ball will pass to the opposite person who will pass it back. Ready, GO!"

They drill for about 45 minutes and Troy was proud to say they looked pretty good for the first practice. In that time frame, he only looked at Gabriella about ten times, so he was also pretty proud of himself because he wanted to look at her so much more. After finishing a shooting drill he stops everyone. "Alright guys, go take a five minute break. Get some water and we'll start a scrimmage after that."

Everyone runs over to grab a drink of water and Troy watches as Chad immediately goes over to say hi to his girlfriend. Troy wipes the sweat off on his grey sleeveless shirt and follows Chad up the bleachers, who already had his arm around his girlfriend, even though she looked disgusted. Troy stops in front of Gabriella and smiles. Gabriella smiles back. "Looking good out there superstar."

Troy smiles even harder. 'Superstar' was a name that she used to call him when they were dating. "Thanks. I didn't know you were coming to watch."

Gabriella rolls her eyes. "Neither did I. But Juliet over here was dying to see her Romeo." Gabriella nods to Taylor and Chad who didn't notice either of them. "The team looks pretty good out there."

Troy nods. "Thanks, I was thinking the same. Hey, I gotta go, but I'll catch up with you later ok?" He says and Gabriella nods with a smile. "Come on loverboy." Troy hits Chad's shoulder and Chad gives his girlfriend a final kiss and they head back down the bleachers. He looks back to find Gabriella waving at something over his shoulder. He glances over and narrows his eyes in disgust when he sees Nate waving to her. He sighs angrily. 'Only using you…" Echos in his head. "Shut UP!" He mutters angry under his breath trying to get rid of the negative thoughts.

After another minute or so, Troy calls them over and starts a scrimmage game going with pretty even teams. About fifteen minutes into the game, Troy looks over to see his father entering the gym. Troy passes the ball to Kyle and then calls a junior in to take his spot. He runs over to greet his dad. "Hey dad!"

"Hey Troy. I would have been here earlier but Principle Matsui had a meeting with the athletic coaches." Troy nods in understanding and Coach Bolton looks out onto the court where, to Troy's disgust, Nate just made a lay-up. "How do they look out there?"

Troy smiles at his father. "Great! I was impressed. Some of the freshmen look pretty good also." Troy watches as Kyle intercepts a pass from a sophomore to Zeke and dribbles it down the opposite side of the court. Troy watches with pride as he shoots and scores. He could tell already that Kyle was going to be his favorite freshman, since he reminded Troy so much of himself.

"Good. I'm glad to see everyone is pumped for the season." Coach Bolton says and taps Troy on the back. "And I'm so proud to see you leading them again."

Troy smiles up at his dad again. "Thanks Dad."

Coach Bolton nods. "Well, I'm gonna get going. Your mother's cooking lasagna tonight, so don't be late." Troy nods and watches as his father walk out the gym. He lets the game go on for about ten more minutes, then calls everyone into the center of the gym.

"Great job guys. I was really impressed today. So why don't you guys head on home and we'll see you tomorrow, same time, and same place." He steps back a little and Chad throws his hand in the middle of the circle yelling "WHAT TEAM?!"

After they were done, Troy steps away from the circle and looks up at the clock. He had ten minutes until Kelsi got out a rehearsal so he figured he wouldn't have time to change. Troy looks up to see Taylor and Chad at the bottom of the bleachers along with, to Troy's anger, Nate and Gabriella. He does everything in his power not to stare at them and he turns the other way to pick up a stray basketball that was lying on the ground. He returns to the bag of balls and looks up to see Gabriella waving at Nate, who was walking toward the locker-rooms, and then walk over to where Troy was standing. "Great job T, you looked like you were having fun out there."

"Thanks Gabi." He says and then looks around to see Chad and Taylor had already left the gym. He starts to walk over to the locker-room, but Gabriella places a hand on his arm.

"Are you alright?" She asks him.

'Leading you on…' He shakes his head trying to figure out why that thought wouldn't leave him. "I'm fine!" He says a little too enthusiastically. "Look, Gabi I'd love to stay and talk but I have somewhere to be." He says and looks at the clock to see he now had five minutes to get changed. Gabriella's face falls a little bit and nods.

"Oh, I understand. Ok, then I guess I'll just see ya tomorrow?"

Troy nods and turns around running to get to the locker-room. "See ya Gabi!" He yells and enters the locker-room to go meet Kelsi.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter is extremely long but I guess it's ok. I just couldn't find a good place to stop. Oh well, the more the better I guess! Thanks for reading! Reviews are great! 


	13. Crime and Punishment

Troy takes a sip of the water that was sitting on the piano at Kelsi's house. It was Thursday, and this was the third time that the two had gotten together to work on Troy's plan. The week so far had been pretty uneventful except the looming fact that Nate was all over Gabriella. Everyday, after Troy had physics, he would always see Gabriella and Nate walking back from AP Bio together, laughing or smiling or something of that nature. It drove Troy insane. He still constantly thought about what Bridget had said that one afternoon, but he tried to not let that bother him. What Troy didn't know was that building up the stress of Nate, Bridget's warning, school, Troy's plan to ask Gabriella to homecoming, and basketball was eating him up inside. He didn't even realize how much stress he was building up, and eventually, stress had to pop sometime.

But as for now, Troy ran his fingers through his own brown hair and looks up at Kelsi who was sitting at the piano. She smiles at him gently. "Why don't we take a break Troy. We've been at this for an hour and your voice is starting to sound a little hoarse."

Troy shakes his head. "I'm fine, I just want to get this right." He says but as the sound comes out, his voice sounds raspy. He knew this was going to happen. When Troy first started practicing for the winter musical, he lost part of his voice for five days. Ms. Darbus was afraid the basketball caption had gotten laryngitis, but it was just getting used to singing constantly. Troy tries to clear his throat again. "Go again."

Kelsi nods and starts to play a few bars. Troy clears his throat again and starts to sing. "_I'm saying words that I never said… and it was easy because you see the real me… As I am…_" The line becomes lost when Troy breaks out into a coughing fit. Kelsi stands up from the piano and hands him another glass of water. "Thanks." He croaks and caughs again.

"Troy, we need to take a break." Kelsi says and Troy finally nods in agreement. Kelsi sits down on a chair beside him and smiles. "The other tracks sound great. I listened to them last night."

Troy nods and takes another sip of water, "I know. But this is the one that counts. This was her favorite of all the songs we've ever sang together. It just doesn't sound right, even when my voice is normal."

Kelsi nods. Troy sighs as he realizes that maybe his idea won't work after all. Troy had planned to sing all of the songs that he and Gabriella had ever performed together and put them on a CD. So far, he had sung "Start of Something New", "Everyday", "What I've Been Looking For", "Breaking Free" and about three other songs that they had sang during the winter musical together. He was working on the last song, "You Are the Music in Me", which was the most important song on the track. It was Gabriella's favorite; he knew that from the fact that he constantly heard her humming it over the summer after they broke up. But unfortunately, he saved that one for last, which meant he hit his voice slump during that time. "I think it sounds good."

Troy shakes his head. "No, it's missing something. It doesn't sound right at all." He says and scratches the back of his neck. Suddenly, Kelsi springs up and grabs the sheet of music. "What?"

Her eyes were wide and she was smiling brightly. "You know what would sound great? What if Gabriella sang with you."

With his eyes wide, Troy stands there stupidly. "Kelsi, the whole point is to SURPRISE her…" He starts but Kelsi stops him.

"I know, I know! But what if we had her come here, and record her part by herself, then once your voice goes back to normal, we can record yours and it will be like you guys were together, only you weren't. You said it's her favorite song, so she should have a part in it too." Troy smiles at this.

"Kesli you are amazing! If you can pull that off without Gabriella having any idea… wow Jason is a lucky guy!" He says and watches Kelsi blush at this comment.

"Thanks Troy. You know, Gabriella's really lucky to have you too. I mean, how many guys would really go out of their way this much just to ask a girl to homecoming?" Troy shrugs. It really was more of a present to show that he cared about her instead of "asking" her to homecoming. Because if everything went the way Troy planned, then he was going to ask her out soon after the dance. He just had to pray that Gabriella wanted to go with him and not someone else. Someone else named Nathan Collins.

* * *

Gabriella taps her pencil impatiently. She sighs and starts to drown out what Mrs. Finley was teaching about the structure of a mammal. Not paying attention, her had wanders down to her pants pocket and fingers the "T" necklace again. She was getting slightly curious because many people were getting asked to homecoming and Troy still hadn't asked her yet. Maybe he didn't want to ask her? Or worse, maybe he thought she wanted to go with Nate instead of him? With that thought, she turns her head over to look at Nate who was on the side of the room. He looks back at her and smiles. They had become good friends in the past two weeks, but that was all Gabriella wanted it to be, was friends, and nothing more. 

Off in the distance, the bell rings and Gabriella gets up from her seat. Nate walks over to her and smiles. "So did you pay attention at all?" She asks her as they walk out the door and he shakes his head.

"No. It's Friday, and my brain turns off on Fridays." He says as they reach her locker. Gabriella spins it and opens her locker to get her English stuff out. She turns around to see that Chad, Taylor, Troy, Jason, Zeke and Kelsi were all standing near her's, Taylor's and Kelsi's locker, since they were so close. She looks over to find Troy walking away from Chad and walking toward her. "So speaking of Friday, do you wanna do something tonight?"

Gabriella's eyes glue on Troy as he stops in his tracks. His bright blue connects with her brown and she shakes her head. It seemed like everyone had stopped talking and was looking at the three. They were probably all interested to see Troy's reactions to the situations. "I can't, we're all going to go bowling tonight, sorry Nate." She says still keeping her eyes on Troy. He hadn't moved from the spot he was in and she really couldn't read his reactions.

"Oh, alright." Nate says disappointed and Gabriella finally tears her eyes away from Troy's to look at him. She sort of felt bad turning him down, but she didn't like him that way so it really didn't matter.

"Well, why doesn't Nate join us tonight? The more the merrier!" Everyone's heads turn to see Jason talking. Gabriella looked to see Troy's eyes grow wide and everyone was staring at Jason like he was crazy.

Nate looks at all of them and shakes his head. "No, I don't want to interrupt on anything."

Gabriella watches as Zeke sighs and shakes his head. "No, you won't. We're meeting at 7 if you want to come." Gabriella guesses that he was just trying to be polite and everyone except Gabriella, Troy and Chad were encouraging him to come. Nate's smile grows on his face and he nods.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you there then. Thanks guys." He says while walking happily away. Everyone turns their heads on Jason.

"Why did you invite him?!" Chad says angrily and Jason looks around, oblivious to the fact that he just made the night extremely awkward.

"Because he looked like he wasn't going to do anything and I thought it would be ok." Jason says. Everyone knew that Jason sometimes didn't look outside the box and this was one of those times. Chad rolls his eyes and Taylor places a hand on his chest.

"It will be fine Chad, we all like Nate anyways." She says and Taylor looks up at Gabriella giving her an understanding smile. Gabriella looks up at Troy who's eyes were on the ground, as though avoiding her gaze. Gabriella thought it was a little awkward that Chad was talking about this in front of both Troy and herself.

Chad sighs and shakes his head. "Yea I know he's a nice guy but Tay, do you know how awkward it's going to be for Tr…"

"We're going to go to English now." Troy says loudly and grabs Gabriella's arm. They both knew that Chad was going to say 'awkward for Troy'. Everyone shuts up and Chad becomes bright red, probably because he forgot that Gabriella and Troy were still standing there. Troy's hand tails down her arm and grabs her hand. By reflex, their fingers lace and he leads her off to English. Once inside the room, Troy looks down at their hands and immediately drops hers. She could see a tint of red in his face and he looks at her. He walks over to his seat and Gabriella follows behind.

"Are you pissed?" Gabriella asks him in a small voice. He looks up at her and gives her a confused look.

"Why would I be pissed?" He asks leaning back in his chair and Gabriella shrugs.

"Well… Nate's coming now, and if you don't want him to come, I can just tell him…

Troy hold up his hand and shakes his head. "Gabi, Nate and I were friends last year. He's a nice guy and your good friends with him." Gabriella smiles thankfully at him. "There's no reason why he shouldn't come."

The bell rings and Gabriella goes to the back of the room to sit down. She could think of a lot of reasons why Nate shouldn't come and all of them revolved around Troy. She herself was a little upset that he was coming, from the fact that Nate would want to flirt with her and all she wanted to do was be with Troy since they hadn't hung out since before Troy had stopped talking to her. Yes, it might be helpful if she flirted with another guy to get Troy jealous a bit, but she really just wanted Troy all to herself. She was really starting to get sick of them just being friends. "Alright class." Mrs. Jameson enters the room. "Since it's Friday and you guys have been working hard these past couple weeks, we'll have discussions about Crime and Punishment. Get into groups of two or three and discuss chapters ten and eleven." The class gets up and Troy stands and turns around to smile at Gabriella. He walks back toward her and sits down in the seat in front of her.

"Hey partner." He states and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"What if I said I didn't want to be your partner?" Gabriella states then her eyes grow wide when she realizes that she said the exact same thing to Nate when he first offered to be her lab partner. She didn't want to treat them both the same, because that meant that she liked them both the same, which was absolutely wrong. Troy would win in a heart beat. He smiles his perfect smile and pulls Gabriella down into his lap in the desk.

"Well too bad cuz your stuck with me." She sighs in relief that Troy didn't respond the same as Nate. She takes an extra moment to feel his body curve with hers and she breathes in his scent. Gabriella would have done anything to stay in this position but she finally gets up and sits in the desk next to his and they pull the two together.

"So…Crime and Punishment…" Gabriella starts by opening her book but Troy cuts her off.

"Is a stupid book that I don't feel like talking about right now." He lifts his hand to bring her book down and she rolls her eyes.

"Troy… come on I want to get an "A" here!" Gabriella whines.

"And I want to get a Ferrari but we can't always get what we want." Troy says with a smile and Gabriella rolls her eyes once again. "Come on Gabi, do you really want to talk about some guy named Raskolnikov?" Gabriella sighs and shakes her head. "That's what I thought."

"So what do you want to talk about then?" Gabriella asks moving her chair a little closer to him. She couldn't tell if his smile got bigger at this action or if he even noticed or not. His eyes stare straight into hers and he smiles.

"How I'm going to kick your ass at bowling tonight."

Gabriella shakes her head. "Yea right Troy! You may be the king at basketball, but I WILL beat you tonight. You can bet on that!"

Troy laughs a little and Gabriella couldn't help but absorb his laugh. It sounded so beautiful to her. Everything about him was perfect, and it was at that moment that she couldn't believe she let him go this summer. What was she thinking? Yea they had a problem, but she just missed him so much. He flips his hair a little bit and looks up at her staring at him. "I know that look. What is it Montez?"

Gabriella sighs and looks up at him. "Nothing, I'm just tired. I really haven't been getting much sleep lately. Sorry, didn't mean to stare." Gabriella lies and looks down at her book trying to avoid his gaze. She feels a hand brush part of her hair away from her face which makes her look up at Troy again. A smile was playing on his lips and he puts his arm on the table.

"You know what I was thinking?" Troy asks her and Gabriella shrugs.

"I have no idea what thoughts go through your head Troy Bolton, nor do I want to know." Gabriella says with a smile and Troy laughs sarcastically.

"Haha, that's hilarious." Troy says and shakes his head. "No, you know what I REALLY was thinking?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "I have no idea."

"Well, I was thinking that you and I should save the environment by letting me pick you up to go to bowling tonight."

Gabriella smiles at him and then shakes his head. "Sorry Troy, but Kelsi, Taylor and I are all going to ride together."

Troy laughs and then shrugs. "Oh well, I guess I gotta get to you earlier then huh? Since everyone wants you so badly."

Gabriella smiles. "Oh yea since everyone is dying to have me right?" She jokes.

Troy looks at her strangely for a moment as if fighting with himself to say something. It looks like he decides not to. Gabriella watches as he opens his mouth, and then shuts it again shaking his head this time. He picks up the book and looks at it for the first time all hour.

"So…Crime and Punishment…"

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys get the idea Troy has and I know it's more like a present, but you'll see how it comes into play later. These next few chapters are kind of fillers so bare with me I know this one was pretty boring. I'm just going to say, don't get too cozy with Troy and Gabriella yet. They're not out of the water and I hope you kind of see that with Troy's jealousy of Nate. Also, just to warn you guys, I know it's pretty fluffy now, but I might be changing the rating on this to "M" because I'm going to be getting into heavy partying later, and a little bit more sexual. I don't know, I haven't decided but I just wanted to warn you guys now. It won't come for awhile though. Thanks for reading again! Reviews mean a lot! Thanks guys!


	14. Bowling

Gabriella once again found herself standing in front of her mirror. She spins around to examine her brown tank top with a white cami underneath. She was wearing jeans with flip-flops and she was bringing socks for the bowling alley. Her hair was down and in loose curls, as usual. She was now debating on a necklace to wear. The one she wanted to wear, she grabs and drops into her brown purse for safe keeping. Gabriella then grabs one that was a brown circle and puts it on instead. She spins around one more time, feeling satisfied with her outfit, and then walks out the door of her room. As she walks down the stairs, the doorbell rings and she runs to answer it.

"Hey Tay." Gabriella greets her best friend. "BYE MOM!" She yells through the house and then walks out the door with Taylor. Her best friend links arms with her as they walk out to the green civic that was sitting in front of Gabriella's house. A faint outline of Kelsi was in the back seat and Gabriella hops in the front passenger side while Taylor goes to the driver's door. "Hey Kelsi!" She says as she turns around and smiles at her friend in the back seat. Kelsi returns the greeting with a wave and Taylor pulls out into the road. The car ride is silent for about five minutes until Gabriella hears a voice from the back.

"Gabriella, I was wondering if you could do me a really huge favor." She says timidly. Gabriella turns around and looks at Kelsi curiously. Kelsi looked like she was struggling to find the words to what she wanted to say.

"Sure, Kels, what do you need me to do?" She asks her.

Kelsi adjusts her glasses on her nose and shrugs. "It's not a big deal or anything, but there's this girl in the musical, who's singing this really great song, but she's not really experienced at singing." The small girl starts to say quickly and Gabriella nods. "So I was wondering… if you could record a song… just to show the emotion that this girl needs to sing."

Gabriella smiles. She hadn't sung for anyone else since her and Troy sang "Everyday". "Of course! I'd be happy to help out! What's the song called?"

Kelsi makes eye contact with her and Gabriella sees the nervous look in her eyes. There was something not right here. Something Kelsi was keeping from her. "Well, actually, I thought a different song would bring out more of the emotion I'm looking for."

Gabriella raises an eyebrow and shoots Taylor a glance. Her best friend shrugs showing her that she doesn't know a thing. Gabriella turns back around and sighs. "What do you want me to sing?"

Kelsi seems to shrink a little in her seat and says quietly. "You Are the Music in Me."

Gabriella's heart drops. That was her favorite song that she had ever sung with Troy, even more than "Breaking Free". To be honest, she didn't want another person listening to that and taking the way that she sang it and try to sing like her. It was her and Troy's song, and she wasn't sure she would feel complete without him singing it with her. "Kels, you I know I want to help, but you know how much that song means to me."

Kelsi nods. "I know Gabriella, but I really need you to do this for me."

Gabriella shakes her head. "Can't we do something else? How about like 'Everyday' or something?"

Kelsi looks up at her and sighs. "Gabriella, please. You know that you wouldn't do the same on "Everyday" as 'You Are the Music in Me' …please?" Gabriella looks at her friend's pleading face and sighs. She really didn't want to do it.

"It's a pair's song Kels."

"I just need you to sing your part." Kelsi says quickly and Gabriella sighs. She needs to be a good friend because Kelsi bent her back for her and Troy last year for the musical. She finally nods and the petite girl in the back smiles brightly.

"Fine. I'll do it." Gabriella says quietly and Kelsi smiles even brighter. She turns around to face the front and finds that they had just parked into the parking lot to the bowling alley.

"Thanks so much Gabriella! You can come over sometime Sunday before we go shopping." Kelsi says as they hop out of the car and Gabriella nods. Taylor, Chloe, Kelsi, Sharpay and Gabriella had all planned on going shopping for homecoming dresses on Sunday. The three walk into the alley to find that Zeke, Sharpay, Jason, Ryan, Chloe and Nate had already arrived. Gabriella sighs as she sees Nate's face light up as he looks at her. The three walk up to them and Gabriella tries to put on a smile. She wished Troy was here already though.

"Hey guys!" Taylor greets and everyone says hello. Gabriella feels Nate's eyes on her and she looks over to him and smiles. He walks over to her and gives her a hug.

"Hey Gabs!"

"Hey Nate." She says quietly and lets go. She had to admit, he did look really good tonight. He was wearing a red polo with light ripped jeans. The thought that any girl would be thankful to have a boyfriend like him enters her mind again. Gabriella thought he was hot and a great guy. The only problem was…

"TROY! CHAD!" She hears Jason yell and quickly whips her head around to find Troy and Chad walking next to each other into the alley. Every thought she had just had about Nate being hot was wiped clean from her mind because Troy looked incredible. He was wearing an orange shirt with light jeans. His hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed, sticking up at different angles (**like in the "Say Ok"** **video**). He and Chad finally reach the group and Gabriella looks up to see Troy eye her and Nate carefully. She tries to give him a reassuring smile, but Troy just looks in the opposite direction. She sighs and they walk to the counter to get their bowling shoes. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Troy finishes tying the laces of his bowling shoes and stands up. He walks over to where everyone was standing and looks over to see Nate and Gabriella standing beside each other. It made him sick. Sure, he had told Gabriella that he wasn't pissed off that Nate came but that was a lie. He wanted her all to himself tonight and not have to share her with Nate. He looks to his side to see Chloe coming up to him slowly. "What's with the frown?" She says quietly so only they could hear. Troy and Chloe had become really good friends ever since she came to school. Chloe could read Troy like a book which could be good or bad sometimes. He sighs as he figures that Chloe was going to get it out of him anyways, so he might as well tell her.

"It's the happy couple standing over there." Troy jerks his head in the direction of Gabriella laughing at something Nate had just said. Chloe nods and rolls her eyes. Troy knew that Chloe wasn't a fan of Nate and Gabriella either. Probably because she knew how much Troy liked Gabriella.

"Don't worry about it Bolton. It's not a big deal. Just try and have fun tonight alright?" She says and Troy nods his head. They turn back to where Taylor was talking about how they should split up to make even teams.

"Ok, well Jason, Kelsi, Zeke and Sharpay can be one team. And then Ryan, Nate, Chloe can be another team. And then Chad, Gabriella, Troy and I will be on the last team. That sounds fair right?"

"It sounds good to me." Gabriella says and smiles at Troy who doesn't smile back. If she could flirt with another guy right in front of him tonight, then he was going to mess with her. Troy wanted Gabriella to have to work for him tonight.

"Wait, are you joking? Chad and Troy can't be on the same team, they'll kick all of our asses!" Zeke says and everyone agrees. Taylor sighs and shakes her head.

"Fine, well then how about…" Taylor looks around. "Chad and I will play with Zeke and Sharpay. Troy, Gabriella, Kelsi, and Jason will be on a team. Happy everyone?"

Everyone else nods their heads but Troy smirks. "Now why would you want to separate you from your best friend? No, I'll go with Ryan and Chloe so Nate can be with Gabriella…" He makes eye contact with Gabriella and smirks even more when he sees her eyes grow wide with shock. He was looking for her to come to him tonight. She was going to have to work for him and if it meant being an ass, then that's how it was going to be done.

"Troy!" Gabriella says and walks over to him. Troy looks up to see Nate looking happy. He must have not notice Gabriella was trying to get on Troy's team. "Come on, don't be stupid." She says with annoyance in her voice. Troy shakes his head.

"Nate came for you tonight Gabi." He says in a soft serious voice, not the mocking one he used earlier.

"I know. But you and I haven't hung out on the weekends in so long. I was looking forward to this." She says in a whisper and Troy's heart melts. He tears his eyes away from her for a moment to see everyone else was setting up their lanes and they were the only two standing there. He sighs and shakes his head.

"I know. But he came for you. Not us." Troy says honestly and sighs. Even though he wanted her to work for him, his heart was taking over what his brain wanted to do. "Look, how about this. There's an ice cream shop in this bowling alley. Knowing you girls, you're gonna want some later." Troy says and Gabriella smiles. "Your team beats ours, then I'll buy you ice cream. And if we beat you, then you buy me some."

A smile grows on Gabriella's face and she nods. "Alright, but you are going to get creamed Bolton." She says as they walk to their lanes and step down the stairs together. She goes over to where Chad, Taylor and Nate were standing and Troy goes by Chad and Chloe.

"So, we're going to kick their ass right guys?" Ryan and Chloe laugh at Troy's comment and Ryan goes up to bowl first. Troy and Chloe sit down and Chloe turns to look at him.

"Sorry you didn't get the team you wanted to be on." She says and glances over at Gabriella and Nate who were laughing at something Chad had just said. Troy shrugs and puts his arm around Chloe.

"It's no big deal. Besides, I get to hang out with you tonight!" Chloe laughs at his comment and they watch as Ryan bowls. All the pins but one knock down and he jumps in the air smiling. "Way to go Evans!" Troy says as he stands up and gives Ryan a high five. Ryan bowls again and hits the last pin down. Chloe jumps up in the air and runs over to throw her arms around Ryan. Troy stands there for a moment soaking this in. That action seemed like something that Gabriella would do to him if he did something good. Chloe lets go of Ryan and they both look at each other then walk back to Troy.

"You're up Bolton." Chloe says sitting down with Ryan. Troy shakes his head and grabs a bowling ball and looks across the lane to see Chad grabbing a ball with him. He looks back to find Gabriella had joined Chloe and Ryan to watch Troy bowl. She smiles at him and winks.

"Don't choke Troy!" She yells and Troy rolls his eyes. He turns over to his best friend who was looking at him.

"So let's see how LeBron bowls." Chad mocks and Troy laughs. He walks up and swings his arm back with perfect form, then lets go of the ball. It curves slightly but then when it reaches to the end, hits the center pin with force which knocks all of the pins down. He smiles and turns around sliding on his knees with his hand in a victory fist and makes eye contact with Gabriella. She smiles and walks up to him shaking her head.

"Beginner's luck." She says and Troy looks up at her on his knees and shakes his head.

"Start pulling out the money Montez, cuz you're buying me ice cream." He says and Gabriella rolls her eyes. She holds out her hand and Troy takes it, lacing their fingers out of reflex. She pulls him up and they stand there for a moment, looking into each other's eyes. So badly did he want to lean down and kiss her. He watches as she starts to close her eyes and he does the same, inching closer with their lips.

"GABRIELLA! YOU'RE UP!" Troy hears Nate's voice echo in his ears and he opens his eyes. Gabriella groans and looks up at him. Troy, embarrassed that they almost kissed in front of someone who likes her, quickly walks away with Gabriella looking at him strangely. He sits down next to Chloe again and runs his fingers through his hair. She puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles.

"How many people saw that?" He asks in a quiet voice and Chloe shrugs.

"Me, Ryan, Chad and Taylor. Nate was too busy finding a ball and when he called her he was looking up at the scores so I don't think he saw it." She says and Troy swears in his head. If anyone he would have wanted to see them almost kiss it would have been Nate because then maybe it would mean he would stay away from Gabriella then.

But did Gabriella really want to kiss him? Or did she just do it because it was a habit for them, like when they held hands. What if Ryan was wrong and she didn't like him? What if he was wasting his time with the CD and she really would have rather gone with Nate to homecoming? That was stupid. Troy knew Gabriella still liked him. Otherwise she wouldn't have wanted to be on his team…right?

After the tenth frame of the second game, Troy looks up at the scores. He, Ryan and Chloe had beaten the other two teams in the first game, but Chad, Taylor, Nate, and Gabriella had beaten them the second game. All three teams begin to take off their shoes. "I want ice cream!" Sharpay says as she takes off her pink sparkly shoes that she brought along because she didn't want to put her feet in shoes that other people wore. All the girls agree loudly and Troy and Gabriella make eye contact.

"So… who pays for whom?" She asks him once everyone's shoes are off and everyone looks at the two strangely.

"What are you guys talking about?" Taylor asks and Gabriella giggles while Troy scratches the back of his neck.

"Gabriella and I sorta made a bet, but it's a tie." He says and Gabriella smiles up at him.

"So what do we do?" She asks and Troy pretends to be thinking hard.

"Well, since I'm such a nice guy. I guess I'll pay for you." Troy looks up to find Nate frowning. Troy smirks when he remembers overhearing Gabriella tell Taylor that when the two went out for ice cream, Gabriella refused to let Nate pay for her. All the girls then run over to where the ice cream shop is and get into a line. The guys follow slowly and Troy waits in the back of the line with Chad when Gabriella and Taylor walk up to the two. "What do you want?" Troy asks her and she smiles.

"Chocolate in a cone." She says with a smile, and Troy knew that she was thinking that was his favorite flavor. He nods and watches as Gabriella and Chloe walk over to where Nate was standing off to the side of the line. Troy frowns at this. He had barely said two words to Nate all night and everyone else seemed to include him pretty well. Nate and he were good friends last year, but now that he was after Gabriella, Troy couldn't stand him. He watches as Gabriella laughs and puts her hand on his arm at something he said. Troy forces himself to turn away and he sighs. He had to make sure the CD was ready soon, or Nate was going to get to Gabriella first. And Troy wasn't sure he would be able to take it emotionally if Nate asked her before Troy did.


	15. What Friends Are For

Troy feels the sweat drip down his face and hit the cement. He dibbles the ball another step and then passes it to Chad, who was open on his left. Chad passes back to him and Troy fakes Zeke right and goes left, taking a perfect shot. It goes in with a swish and Chad runs over to Troy and gives him a high five. It was Sunday and since the girls were going shopping, the guys decided to go over to Troy's a play basketball for awhile. It was Chad and Troy verses Zeke, Jason and Ryan who tried extremely hard to keep up with the four other basketball players. Troy noticed that he wasn't awful, but you could defiantly tell a huge difference between all of them verses him. Chad lies down on the grass and closes his eyes. "God, it's so damn hot out."

Zeke nods and sits down next to him. "You ain't lyin' man." Troy looks down at them with a smile and sets the ball down. It was one of the hottest weekends since school started and all of them were sweating up a storm. Troy rips his shirt off and throws it on the ground, which all of the guys follow his lead.

"I wonder how much the girls are spending." Jason says randomly and all of them laugh.

"Probably a lot. Especially Zeke's girlfriend over here." Chad says and looks up to see Zeke smiling. Ryan shakes his head probably knowing that Chad was right, when it came to his sister, it was all or nothing. Troy sighs as he starts to imagine what kind of dress Gabriella would buy and how hot she would look in it.

"I guess." Zeke responds then looks up at the blond standing next to Troy. "So Ryan, have you picked out a girl to ask yet?"

Troy freezes as he remembers what he saw on Friday night between Ryan and Chloe. It was true, they would look amazing together, but Ryan shrugs. "I don't know, I think I'm going to ask Martha tomorrow."

Troy shakes his head and puts a hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Dude, you should ask Chloe."

Ryan looks taken aback for a moment while all the other guys nod in agreement. "Chloe? Nah, I don't think so. I don't think she'd want to go with me."

"Dude, I saw you two on Friday night… there's chemistry there." Troy adds in with a nudge and all the guys agree again.

"No. I'm going to ask Martha. I don't want to take the chance of Chloe not having a good time. I mean, she's nice and pretty and great… but I don't like her that way." Ryan says and all the guys boo. "Hey now, come on."

Zeke shakes his head and smiles. "Dude, you and Chloe could be the next Troy and Gabriella. I really think you should ask her." Troy shoots Zeke a look. "What?"

"There isn't a Troy and Gabriella right now." Troy says plainly and Chad opens his eyes and sits up once again. Chad was just as concerned about the situation with Nate and Gabriella because he had become like her big brother watching out for her. It also helped that he was Troy's best friend.

"I wanted to talk to you about that. What are you going to do about Nate?" Chad asks Troy.

"I don't know what you mean. There's nothing I can do about it. They're really good friends and I know Nate really likes her. And I have no idea whether or not she likes him back. I guess I got to make sure I ask her to homecoming first." Troy says. He had been thinking about it all last night. The thought that occurred to him Friday reenters his mind. He wouldn't be able to handle not going with Gabriella. It would probably tear him apart inside.

Chad sighs and rolls his eyes. "Dude, how many times do we have to tell you? SHE LIKES YOU! You should hear the stuff Tay tells me that Gabriella says" Chad says throwing the basketball at Troy who catches it with his good reflexes. Troy moves the ball around in his hands and shrugs. Just because Gabriella liked him didn't mean that she didn't like Nate also. It just depended on how MUCH she liked him.

"I know man, I just gotta beat Nate to her I guess." Troy says and takes a shot with the basketball making it perfectly in. He looks back at the guys who were all staring at him, either in awe of curiosity.

"So when are you gonna ask her?" Jason asks.

"That depends on how quickly your girlfriend can work." Troy says with a smile and Jason nods. Kelsi must have told him what Troy was planning on doing since Troy hadn't told anyone except Kelsi and Chad.

"Alright… are we going to sit here and talk about girls all day or are we going to play basketball?" Chad asks and get up from off the ground. The guys all excitedly get back into the game.

* * *

Gabriella picks up a green dress and holds it up into the light. She walks over to wear Taylor and Kelsi were standing and hold it up. Both girls nod that they like it and Gabriella walks into the dressing rooms to try it on. Taylor and Kelsi had already bought a dress within the first store they went to. Taylor's was a red halter that was satin. It was floor length and Gabriella thought she looked beautiful in it. Kelsi, on the other hand, bought a dress that was knee length and white. It was spaghetti strapped and Gabriella thought she looked really pretty in that as well. Kelsi and Gabriella had driven to the mall together after they had gotten done recording the song. She knew it wasn't a good as when she and Troy sung it at Lava Springs, but it wasn't bad. She was just happy that she could help out her friend.As Gabriella slips on this green dress, she looks at herself in the mirror and shakes her head. Although she liked it, it wasn't her and she was more basing her decision on what Troy would like. That is if Troy wanted to ask her. She prayed that he did, but you could never be sure with Troy. She made up her mind last night, when she had time to think, that if Troy asked someone else, she would want Nate to ask her. But she hoped that wasn't how it was going to be. She would have given anything to go with Troy. 

Gabriella walks out of the dressing room and all of the girls look at her. Sharpay was out also in her dress and it looked like Chloe was still in the dressing room. Sharpay looked stunning. Her dress was silver and came down to the floor. It was beaded along the halter top and she looked incredible. Gabriella walks over to them and smiles. "Sharpay that's the one, I absolutely love it." She says and Sharpay smiles.

"I know right!" She says and all the girls give her a look. Even though she had changed, she would always be the same Sharpay. "Your dress is pretty too."

Kelsi nods in agreement and Gabriella looks in the mirror once again. True, the dress was pretty, but Gabriella wasn't looking for pretty. She was looking for something that would knock Troy off of his feet. "I'm not sure I like it that much."

Taylor nods in agreement. "It looks nice on you, but I think we can find much better." While she was saying this, the door to one of the dressing rooms open and Gabriella's mouth drops. Chloe steps out and walks over to them. She looked phenomenal in her dress. It was royal blue that was satin and strapless. There was a big diamond in the middle on top and she spun around so you could see the back had crisscross tie that went down to her lower back.

"Chloe, you look gorgeous." Gabriella says and all of the girls nod, even Sharpay.

"Thanks, I really like it too." She says and spins around in front of the mirror. Gabriella and Chloe go back into their dressing rooms and change into their jeans once again. All of the girls walk up to pay for Sharpay's and Chloe's dress. Once they leave the store, Sharpay turns to Chloe.

"So, who do you want to ask you to homecoming?" She asks and Chloe looks at her strangely.

"No one. I think I'll just go solo since I don't think that anyone will ask me." Chloe says looking down and Gabriella sighs. Chloe was such a great girl, and she knew SOMEONE would ask her. There was no question there.

"You know who I think you'd look adorable with?" Sharpay says and Chloe looks up again in confusion.

"Who?"

"My brother." Gabriella suddenly thinks about this. Chloe and Ryan. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. They were both extremely caring, both loved to be around people, and neither of them had a boyfriend or girlfriend. They would be perfect and she knew it. All of the girls seem to nod in agreement.

"Yea Chloe, you guys would be so cute together." Kelsi says and Chloe shakes her head.

"Guys. Yes, Ryan's a really nice guy and I like him AS A FRIEND. But that's it, there's nothing more to it. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's going to ask Martha Cox." Chloe says and all the girls roll their eyes. Gabriella knew that Chloe really only liked him as a friend but you never know. Homecoming changes everything.

"Let's try this one." Taylor says as they enter the dress store. Gabriella was getting sick of walking and turns to her friends.

"Guys, I'm probably not going to find one. So let's just quickly go through this and then we can go to the food court." She says as she briefly looks at the dresses. All the other girls seemed to be on a mission to find her the perfect dress, but the one she would want she knew would jump out at her. Taylor holds up a black dress from behind a rack and smiles.

"What about this?" She asks. It was pretty, Gabriella had to admit. But she didn't want to wear black to homecoming. She wanted Troy to think she was happy to be there, not depressed. She shakes her head and Taylor frowns, putting the dress back onto the rack. Sharpay they runs over holding a bright pink dress.

"This one would look fabulous on you." She says and holds it up to Gabriella. There were sparkles all over it and it puffed out a lot at the bottom. She shakes her head and smiles at Sharpay.

"Sharpay, we're looking for me remember? Not you." Sharpay rolls her eyes and then walks back with the dress. Gabriella sighs and was about to give up when something catches her eye. She turns around and walks toward one rack with white dresses on it. But in the mix of the white, lay a single light gold dress. She picks it up and walks toward where Taylor and Chloe were still searching for a dress for her. "I'm going to go try this on. But this is the last one." She says and the other girls nod.

Gabriella shuts the door to the dressing room and turns around. She looks at it for a moment before she touches it. Did Troy like gold? Of course he did. Gold was the color of the basketball championship trophy that he won last year. If any color was Troy's, it would have to be gold. She picks it up and unzips the back. Once she had the dress on, she didn't want to look at it. She wanted the other girl's opinion of it first before she saw. Gabriella opens the door to her dressing room without looking at the mirror and walks out. The four girls turn around and their jaws literally drop. Oh no, it looked that bad. What was she going to do now? She didn't have a dress and homecoming was in two weeks. "It looks that bad huh?"

Taylor takes a step forward and shakes her head. "Honey, Troy won't be able to take his eyes off of you." Taylor says and Sharpay raises her eyebrows.

"Or his hands." She mumbles and Gabriella's eyes grow wide and she hits Sharpay's arm. She takes a deep breath and then finally turns around to look in the mirror. All she had to do was look at it for a second to know this was the one. The dress was made out of satin and it reached to the floor. It had ruching all over her torso and ended right below her butt, except straight down the middle of her torso in the front and back, where it had a thin rectangle of straight fabric. The dress was strapless and Gabriella knew this was the one. It had to be, and she knew that Troy wouldn't be able to resist her in this. She turns back around and smiles at all her friends and nods.

"I want this one." She says and the girls squeal. Gabriella grins and looks at herself in the mirror once more, then runs back into the dressing room to change back to her normal clothes. When she's done, she steps out of the dressing room and then takes a look at the price tag. Her heart sinks. $154.00. Her mother told her she couldn't get a dress more expensive then $100 since her prom dress was so expensive. Gabriella could almost feel tears well up in her eyes. She looks up at her friends and quickly blinks them away. This was the one dress she knew Troy would love. And now that she couldn't buy it, what was she going to do? "I can't get this." She says bairly audible and all of the girls' eyes were wide

"Um… why not?" Taylor says in a confused voice and Gabriella sighs.

"It's too expensive. My mom told me I couldn't get anything over $100 because my prom dress was so expensive. What am I going to do?" She asks and Kelsi runs over to look at the inside of the dress.

"Maybe it's on sale or something." They all look but find that it wasn't and Gabriella bites her bottom lip. "Well, just get it anyways, and then tell your mom it was only $100."

Gabriella shakes her head. "She told me to use my credit card, the one where all the money from working at Lava Springs, besides the stuff for college. I don't have any cash on me."

Gabriella watches as Sharpay dramatically sighs and pulls out her purse. She then takes out $60 and holds it out in her hands for Gabriella to take. "Here, use the credit card and I'll make up the difference."

Gabriella shakes her head at the blond. "No, Sharpay I can't except this money. It's yours and I don't want to use it. I'll just have to find something else." She says and starts to head off to put the dress back when Sharpay shakes her head.

"Gabs, it's just sixty dollars, it's not the end of the world. Besides, I'm tired of walking around. Your getting that dress whether you like it or not. Here take it." Sharpay states and waves the money in front of Gabriella's face. Gabriella smiles and grabs the money.

"Are you sure?" She asks and Sharpay nods, and then pushes her back toward the counter.

"Yes, now go pay before I change my mind." Gabriella beams and goes up to the lady at the cash register to pay for the dress. Once she was finished and had the dress wrapped up in a bag, she out of the store where all of her friends were standing and hugs Sharpay.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She says and then lets go of the blond. Sharpay smiles.

"Hey, what are friends for right?" Gabriella's mouth drops. This was the first time Sharpay had EVER called them friends. After everything that had happened during the summer, Gabriella just assumed that Sharpay only talked to her because it would make Zeke happy. Never in a million years had she actually thought that her and Sharpay Evans would actually be _friends_. Gabriella smiles at what she said and nods.

"Right. But I'll pay you back I promise." Gabriella says and Sharpay shakes her head.

"Don't bother. Just do me one really big favor, so the money doesn't go to waste." Gabriella nods.

"Anything."

With this, Sharpay smiles. "Knock Troy Bolton off his feet when he sees you in this."

Gabriella smiles back at her former enemy and smiles, thankful that they were now friends. "That's the effect I'm going for too."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Gabriella's dress is in my profile 


	16. Wrong Date

Gabriella shuts her locker and turns around to see Chloe standing in front of her. It was last period and they had gotten in the habit of walking together to gym with Troy and Chad. Almost as if on cue, the two best friends walk up to Chloe and Gabriella and smile. "Are you guys ready?" Chad asks them and they nod as they start to head off to gym. Gabriella was walking beside Troy on her left and Chloe on her right when she notices that Troy was extremely tense about something. She nudges him playfully and smiles up at him. "Hey, are you alright?"

Troy looks down at her and halfheartedly smiles. "Yea, I'm fine. I guess I'm just nervous about something."

Gabriella looks at him confused for a moment. "What about?"

Troy shrugs. "Never mind, it's not important." He says as all four of them start to walk down the stairs. Chloe looks at Gabriella and shrugs.

"So would you guys PLEASE tell me what Taylor's dress looks like?" Chad begs the two girls, getting the attention off of Troy, and they both shake their heads.

"Nope, we're sworn to secrecy. You'll just have to find out then." Chloe states as they reach the end of the hallway where they split so the boys can go to the guy's locker room and the girls would go in their own.

"You guys suck ass!" Chad calls down the hallway and the girls shake their heads.

"We love you Chad!" Gabriella says as she sees Chad stick up his middle finger at the two and they both laugh as they open the door to the locker room.

It was Tuesday, and Troy still hadn't asked her to homecoming yet. Gabriella was starting to get worried. Homecoming was a week from Saturday and mostly everyone had dates now. Ryan had asked Martha, just as Chloe predicted and Gabriella wasn't sure how she felt about that. Sure, Martha was her friend, but she really wasn't in "the gang" with the rest of them. Plus, she was sure that Chloe and Ryan would make the perfect couple. Well, the perfect couple besides Troy and herself. The only ones from their gang who didn't have a date were Chloe, Troy and Gabriella. As they walk further into the locker room, they once again hear an annoying cheerleading captain talking once again.

"So he said he had to talk to me about something today during physics, but he didn't say what." Gabriella and Chloe turn the corner to see Bridget talking to her two stooges and flipping her hair. Gabriella rolls her eyes but continues to listen to her conversation. Bridget had physics with Troy.

"So do you think he's going to ask you to homecoming? Because I know he doesn't have a date yet, which is a shock. Because any girl would go with Troy Bolton." Jackie states and Bridget turns around to see Gabriella froze in her tracks. She watches as Bridget smirks at her and doesn't take her eyes off of her as she answers the question.

"Yes. I think Troy Bolton is going to ask me to homecoming." Gabriella's body goes numb. Troy would not ask Bridget, she was just bluffing, right? Of course she was, since he had told Gabriella that he thought Bridget was annoying. But that was before he had stopped talking to her two weeks ago. Did he change his mind? Troy did say he was nervous about something that "wasn't important". Or was he just making an excuse because he didn't want to have to break Gabriella's heart?

"Gabs, come on let's go." She suddenly hears Chloe's voice enter her head and feels someone pull her arm as she snaps back into reality. Chloe continues to drag her until they are in front of their lockers. Chloe shakes her head and grabs Gabriella's shoulders. "Don't listen to a word she says Gabriella. She's a bitch and she's trying to mess with you! You KNOW that!" Chloe says as Gabriella looks up at her. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but quickly tires to blink them away. Chloe was right; Bridget was just trying to psych her out. Troy wasn't going to ask her, and she would have bet money that he didn't even have to talk to her about anything.

"But you heard Troy say he was nervous about something!" Gabriella says and Chloe shakes her head, still keeping her hands on Gabriella's shoulders.

"Yeah, maybe he's nervous about asking YOU to homecoming!" Chloe says and finally let's go of Gabriella. She lets that thought sink in for a moment, and then sighs. Maybe Chloe was right. But what if she wasn't?

"Your right, she is a bitch." Gabriella says and she quickly changes into short black shorts and a red tank top and they start to walk out of the locker room. Gabriella looks up to find Troy and Chad shooting hoops as usual and the two girls start walking over toward the two guys. Troy looks up and smiles, which lets Gabriella breathe a little easier. He walks toward her, Chad following at his heals, but suddenly, Gabriella realizes Troy isn't looking at her. He doesn't make eye contact with her and Chad stops in front of the two girls but Troy keeps on walking. Gabriella turns around and lets her heart sink as she hears him faintly yell "Bridget!" She sees Bridget give her a smirk before Bridget takes Troy's arm and leads him off to the side away from Jackie and Gretchen. "What's that about?" Gabriella asks Chad with as much attitude as she possible could, because she had to hide the fact that her throat was swelling up.

She hears Chad stand next to her but she doesn't look. She keeps her eyes on the two in the corner as Bridget continues to keep her hand on Troy's arm. "He didn't say. But I think it has to do with the fact that the cheerleaders want to come inside for practice since the football season is coming to an end. They want to start working on the basketball stuff but there's not room in the gym for them, so Troy mentioned yesterday that he had to talk to one of them about it." Chad says and Gabriella lets out the breath she was holding.

"Why is he nervous?" Gabriella asks still keeping her eyes on the two and she hears Chad shift nervously beside her.

"Well…err… umm… I don't… Gabs… I have no idea!" He stumbles but then lets the last part out extremely quickly. Gabriella finally tears her eyes away from Bridget and Troy for a moment to look at Chad.

"Tell me Chad." She says in a whisper because she's afraid to know the answer. If Chad felt that he couldn't tell her… then was it because he didn't want to break her heart for Troy? The lump in Gabriella's throat grows again as she looks back at Bridget and Troy who were walking back now. Bridget stops in front of Gretchen and Jackie and turns to Troy. Gabriella couldn't hear what was being said because they were so far away but her eyes almost pop out of their sockets as she sees Bridget jump into Troy's arms. That wasn't a good sign. Gabriella feels her heart start to crack a little as lets go of her and then turns around to jog back over to where the other three were. Gabriella turns her head away because she didn't want Troy to see her expression. 'It doesn't mean anything Montez' She tries to tell herself. 'He's not taken yet it doesn't mean anything.'

"What was that about?" Gabriella hears Chloe ask and she looks back just in time to see Troy shrug his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter." He says and then looks at Gabriella. "You alright Gabi? You're looking a little pale."

"I…" She starts but then hears a booming voice echoing in the gym.

"Alright guys let's head to the bleachers." Mr. Guerrero says and the four of them jog over to the bleachers, and Gabriella took notice of how Bridget was waving at Troy the whole way.

* * *

Mr. Guerrero finally blows his whistle indicating they could all go to their locker rooms. They were playing indoor soccer and Gabriella rolls the ball over to Mr. Guerrero. Her eyes narrow as she sees Troy pull out the rack of basketballs for preseason practice and Bridget walking over to him. Chloe stands next to her and shakes her head. "Don't worry about it Gabs." 

She had to, because Bridget touches his shoulder and Troy looks up and gives her his million dollar smile. Gabriella feels Chloe grab her arm behind her and drag her into the locker room. She sighs heavily and they quickly get to their lockers to change. Gabriella was in the middle of putting on her jeans when she hears a squeal from where the door to the gym was. She quickly buttons them up and moves around Chloe to hear what was being said.

"So, what did he say?" Jackie asks and Bridget squeals.

She loudly states. "HE ASKED ME!"

Gabriella's heart drops a thousand feet below her body and stops beating. She could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes and tries her hardest to keep them from falling. She looks over at Chloe who had frozen up along with the rest of the cheerleaders who were friends with Gabriella. She sinks down onto the bench that was in front of the lockers. How could he do this? He had been flirting with her for weeks and he goes and asks Bridget to homecoming? "He asked you?" Gretchen asks excitedly and Bridget squeals again.

"Well, sorta. He implied it." She says loudly again. "He said it will be official tomorrow, he didn't want the squad to know right away!" All three girls squeal and Gabriella feels the tears slip down her face. Chloe sits down next to her and Shannon plus the other girls crowd around her. She hears the laughter and squeals die down as she assumes that the three left he locker room. As soon as she knows that the three left, Gabriella breaks down into sobs and Chloe sits there rubbing Gabriella's back.

"Shh… Honey it's ok." She whispers and Gabriella puts her head into her heads. She suddenly feels another hand on her arm and assumes its Shannon or Mandy.

"How is it ok? He's going to homecoming with Bridget? That means he likes her!" Gabriella lets out between sobs.

"You don't know that. She never officially said it." She hears Shannon's voice and continues to sob. Her heart was breaking with every second the thought sunk it. "You never know what he asked her. It could be anything."

Gabriella shakes her head. "What else would he ask her?" She asks and her body starts to tremble. Sure, it was only a dance, but it meant so much more to Gabriella. It meant they would be taking a step toward going out. Now that dream was shattered and there was nothing she could do about it. "I hate him." She whispers and opens her eyes to see Chloe shake her head.

"Don't say that." She says while rubbing her back still. Gabriella shakes her head and hugs Chloe.

"He told me that I was the only one for him! And now he goes and asks… I thought we were doing so well lately." She whispers and clings Chloe tighter. She feels Mandy taking Chloe's spot of rubbing her back. "What did I do wrong?"

Shannon shakes her head. "Nothing Gabs. You didn't do anything wrong. Troy is just being a bastard right now." She says and Gabriella hears the bell ring in the background. Once feeling like she can stand on her own two feet, she does and thanks all of the girls for comforting her.

"Gabriella, you know we'd do anything for you." Mandy says as the walk out the door. Chloe had a hand on her shoulder as the walked since Gabriella feels like her legs were jello. The thought that kept circling around in her head was 'How could he do this to me?'

* * *

Troy grabs a set of cones from inside the gym office and walks back out. He meets Chad in the middle of the court as they begin to set up for the dribbling drill that they were going to do. Troy looks up to see Chad finished his side of the gym with the cones and walks over to where Troy was standing. His expression was confused and he stops in front of his best friend. "Did you talk to Bridget?" 

Troy nods and stands up. "Yea, I told her to keep quiet about it to the cheerleading squad because it wasn't official until tomorrow." Troy says and grabs the basketball that was lying next to him and shoots the ball. "She acted really strange about it too. Like she hugged me about three times through out the whole gym hour. It's not like I asked her to marry me or anything."

Chad nods and then sighs. "Gabriella's keeps asking why you were so nervous and distant today." Troy's eyes grow wide. Oh no, did Gabriella find out?

"You didn't tell her did you?" Troy says shakily and Chad shakes his head which makes him sigh in relief.

"No, you came over right as she asked me. I haven't said a word to her." After Chad says this, he hears a door slam which confuses him. The last bell hadn't even rung yet and the guys were already here? But he turns around to see a small brunette running into the gym and Troy smiles widely.

"Troy! I got it!" Kelsi yells as she holds up the CD and runs to him. Troy sighs in relief and grabs it from her.

"Kelsi you are my hero." He says and looks at the cover. There were three pictures of them on the front. The one in Gabriella's locker with her on his back, one at prom, and one that they're both standing there with Troy's arm around her. He beams and looks up at her. "Thank you so much Kels, I owe you my life."

Kelsi laughs. "No problem. I got to get going though. I said I was going to the bathroom and I think Darbus might think I'm skipping. I'll see you guys later." She waves at both Chad and Troy and runs out the gym doors again. Troy walks over and puts the CD into his gym bag and looks up at Chad. This was the reason he was so nervous. He was afraid that Gabriella was going to say no to him and he wasn't sure he would be able to take that.

"When are you asking her?" Chad asks and Troy smiles.

"I'm giving her the CD after school tomorrow, so she can listen to it with me. God, I hope she says yes. I can't imagine going to my senior homecoming with anyone other than her." Troy says and Chad pats him on the back. "Can you lead the beginning of practice tomorrow?"

"Of course. And dude, she will say yes. Now that you and Gabs will be going together…" He starts and then hears the last bell of the day ring. "All we need to do is find Chloe a date." Troy nods and shoots another basket. After about five minutes, the guys enter the gym and Troy waves as Kyle enters. He had become friends with the freshman ever since the first day of practice and everyone on the team knew that Kyle was going to be the next Troy, since he was so good and their personalities were almost identical.

"Alright, WILDCATS!" Troy yells and scans the crowd. Someone was missing that was usually here, and it wouldn't have bothered Troy if it was anyone else, but it was him. Troy could feel his body tense as he looked at Zeke and Jason. "Where's Nate?"

Jason shrugs but Zeke looks up at Troy. "He said he had to talk to a teacher about something. He'll be here in a little bit."

Troy nods and turns his attention back to the team. 'Focas Troy, he's with a teacher, not Gabi. Now is not the time to worry about it' He thinks to himself as he starts to lead the drill.

* * *

Gabriella opens her locker and looks into the mirror inside. She was a mess. Her eyes were still red and puffy even though she wasn't crying anymore and her mascara was running. She looks over at Chloe who gives her a comforting smile, but all it did was make Gabriella want to cry more. Her body felt numb and all she thought to herself was why did he have to pick Bridget? She was the one person Gabriella really hated and Troy asked her to homecoming. "I'm pathetic aren't I?" Gabriella says and Chloe shakes her head. 

"No, hun, your not. Troy will realize what he's done and kick himself in the ass for it." Chloe says and Gabriella bites her lip to keep the tears in her eyes. She was happy that only she and Chloe were left in the hallway now because they had gotten out so late of the locker room. She was glad that Chloe was here. Besides Taylor, she and Chloe had become best friends. Taylor would always be on top, but Chloe was next in line, well besides Troy. Gabriella feels the tears slide down again as she thinks about Troy and then wipes them quickly.

"Thanks Chloe. You being here means a lot to me." Gabriella says and Chloe gives her a nod. Suddenly, she hears a squeak of shoes and panics. There was someone else in the hallway and she didn't want anyone to see her like this. She hears the squeak stop in front of her and looks up to find Nate standing there. Oh great, he had come to see her and she looked awful.

"Gabs, what's wrong?" He asks as he puts a hand on her arm. Gabriella shakes her head and sighs.

"Nothing, I'm fine." She says and wipes her eyes again. "What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be at preseason practice?" She asks him and he shakes his head.

"I know, but I had to take care of something first." He says and smiles, grabbing Gabriella's hand. She looks down at it confused but didn't have the energy to do anything about it since crying took it all out of her.

"Ok…" Gabriella says and the lump in her throat grows.

"Alright, here it goes. Gabriella Montez, will you go to homecoming with me?"

Gabriella's heart stops once again. She had a decision to make. Did she want to go alone and try and pray that Troy would have a bad night with Bridget and come to her? Or did she want to go with Nate and risk the chance of leading him on? As she looks at Nate, she imagines Troy's face and how happy she knew he was that he was going with the head cheerleader. But then she imagines Troy's face turn to anger as he finds out she was going with Nate. A small smile creeps onto her face for the first time in an hour. Troy would be furious if she went with Nate, and Gabriella knew this. Payback was a bitch and Troy was about to get it. She wipes her tears and smiles at Nate. "I would _love_ to go to homecoming with you."

Gabriella watches as a smile grows on Nate's face. She smiles back and he picks her up into a hug and spins her around. Immediately, this reminds her of something Troy does. Once he sets her down, he kisses her cheek and smiles. "Good. Well, I have to go to practice now. But I'll talk to you later! Bye Gabs, bye Chloe!" He yells as he runs down the hallway. Chloe eyes Gabriella who had turned back to her locker to grab her books.

"Do you going with him have anything to do with the fact that Troy is going to be furious?" Chloe says with an eyebrow raised. Gabriella turns to her and smiles.

"Nate's a great guy, and I said if I didn't go with Troy I would want to go with him." She says and closes her locker. "It just helps that Troy hates us together."

Chloe nods and they start to walk toward the school doors. "Are you going to be alright?" Chloe asks as they open the doors and step outside into the sun.

"Yea, I'll be fine." Gabriella says. It was partially true, she was no longer sad that Troy asked Bridget. She was pissed now. And she wanted to piss Troy off as much as possible. There was no reason to waste anymore tears on him. It wasn't worth it. Even though, deep down, Gabriella knew that Troy was more than worth it.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I know you guys probably all hate me right now. And I know some of you are getting impatient about them not being together but just try to stick through it. Thanks for reading and reviews are great! 


	17. Truth Revealed

Troy walks into school the next day with a smile on his face. This was it. To Troy, it was the day he and Gabriella were finally going to take a step forward to become more than just friends. Because if Gabriella said yes, then that meant she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her. He and Kelsi had worked so hard on the CD and he knew it was going to be perfect. As he turns the corner to his locker, he sees Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Sharpay and Chloe all surrounding his. Chad and Taylor look like they're arguing about something, but Troy shrugs it off. Nothing was going to tear him down today. Troy felt as if he was on top of the world and Gabriella was going to be up there with him. He watches as Taylor turns around and narrows her eyes at him. Troy walks over and looks at her strangely. "Hey guys."

Chad gives him a weak smile and Taylor scowls at him. "How could you?" She says in a nasty voice and Troy looks at her strangely again.

"What are you talking about?" He asks opening his locker and Taylor laughs sarcastically.

"Look at him, acting like he doesn't know what's going on." Taylor says and Troy watches a Chad steps forward.

"That's because he DOESN'T know what's going on. Tay I told you he didn't do it…"

Troy turns to his best friend and his girlfriend and raises his eyebrow. He didn't know why Taylor was acting so strange but he was only half paying attention. The other half of his brain was at a few hours from now when he would ask Gabriella to homecoming. "What did or didn't I do?" He asks and Taylor crosses her arms and shakes her head.

"What didn't you do? Um… hmm, let's see here… oh yea!" Taylor says and takes a step forward toward him. "You broke Gabriella's heart!"

This gets Troy's attention. He turns his head so quickly around it could have fallen off. He raises his eyebrow and looks at her directly in the eye. "What the hell are you talking about Taylor?!" She rolls her eyes disgusted with him and but he keeps his eyes on her. What did she mean, 'broke Gabriella's heart'? What was going on?

"Oh yea, maybe when you asked Bridget Myles to homecoming?!" Taylor yells and Troy's eyes grow wide. What the hell?

"WHAT?!" Troy matches her volume so Taylor takes a step back from shock. She shakes her head with the same expression on her face. He never asked Bridget to homecoming? What was Taylor on? Troy didn't even like Bridget as a friend? Why the hell would he ask her to homecoming then? "What the hell Taylor, I never asked her to homecoming!"

Taylor looks at him for a second and shakes her head. "That's not what Gabriella told me."

Troy rolls his eyes. "Well Gabriella, for once in her life, is wrong. I never asked Bridget. I'm not even friends with Bridget so why the hell would I ask her to homecoming?"

Chad steps in. "See Taylor! I told you he's not completely out of his mind!" Troy rolls his eyes at this comment and puts his backpack into his locker. Why Gabriella would think that he was going with Bridget, he had no idea.

"So you're not lying? You haven't asked anyone to homecoming yet?" Taylor asks in a slightly scared voice and Troy rolls his eyes, starting to get annoyed. He wanted to keep his eye on the prize at the end of the day and Taylor was starting to ruin his good mood. Just from the fact that she and Gabriella would think so little of him gets him annoyed and he shakes his head.

"No, not yet. I'm asking Gabriella to homecoming after school today but I swear to God if you tell her I'll…" He starts but then Chloe steps forward in a small voice and cuts him off.

"Troy…" He looks at her and for the first time sees fear in her eyes. She looks at her confused and she sighs. "Troy, I don't think you should ask her after school." Now Troy was starting to get pissed off. First they were accusing him of asking someone he would never ask and now they were telling him not to ask Gabriella at all! He shakes his head and shoots a dirty look at Chloe.

"And why the hell would I not?" He asks and sees Chloe close her eyes. She takes a step backward and then Troy looks at the five who were standing there with scared looks on their faces and starts to get scared as well. "What's going on?"

Taylor takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. "You don't want to ask Gabriella because she's already going to homecoming with Nathan Collins."

Troy feels someone stab his heart with a hot knife. If it was possible to actually feel your heart break, he was feeling it now. His stomach feels like a huge bolder was dropped into it and he gets a lump the size of a grapefruit in his throat. How could she do this to him? She knew he was going to ask her and she turns around and says yes to Nate? Troy looses the feeling in his legs and starts to feel the tears well up in his eyes but quickly tries to blink them away. He's Troy Bolton, and he wasn't supposed to cry. But Gabriella made him do a lot of things he never thought he would, and breaking his heart was one of them. "Why would she do that?" Troy whispers and Chloe steps forward putting her hand on his arm.

"Troy, we all thought you asked Bridget to homecoming!" She says and Troy glares at her. "She was upset yesterday and Nate was there and asked her. She thought you were going with Bridget so she didn't want to go by herself! Troy you have to understand!" Chloe says as Troy shakes her hand off of his arm and violently turns back to his locker. "Troy?"

"She fucking knew I was going to ask her!" Troy says angrily. "I've been waiting for her since we fucking broke up, damn it!" Troy spits out and Chloe steps backward a little. "I've been trying to win her back for three and a half damn months!" The words 'leading you on' that Bridget said weeks before echo in his head again as all of his anger bubbles over. "She fucking led me on to believe that she wanted to go to homecoming with me and now she's going with Nate?!"

Taylor shakes her head. "She did DID want to go to homecoming with you, but she thought you were going with Brid…"

"THEN SHE'S STUPID!" Troy roars and he starts to get people looking at him, but he doesn't care. "She knew I didn't like her! Why the hell would she think I asked Bridget then? If she wanted to go with Nate so bad, then she shouldn't have acted like she still had fucking feelings for me!" No one moves as he says this. He knew he was sort of making a bigger deal out of this then he needed to, but Troy was hurt. And when Troy was in pain, he let his anger out. The anger he had built up since they broke up was finally coming out now. From Bridget telling him all those things weeks ago, to Nate and Gabriella flirting in front of him, and finally this is what made Troy explode. He had so much stress and confusion built up on him that this was it, and it was finally coming out now.

"Troy… please." Chloe says in a quiet voice and Troy shakes his head and slams his locker shut.

"Fuck all of you." He spits out. "And you can tell Gabriella she can go to hell." He says as he storms off toward homeroom.

* * *

Gabriella turns the corner of the hallway and takes a deep breath. She was going to be strong today, and Troy to avoid Troy at all costs. She had called Taylor as soon as she got home last night and told her the entire story. Taylor thought that Gabriella should talk to Troy, but that wouldn't do anything because he'd just be able to charm his way out of it like he always did. Gabriella looks up and starts to walk down the hallway. As she makes her way down to her own locker, she looks up to see a crowd around where she knew Troy's was. She catches a glimpse of him walking quickly down the hallway looking angry about something. She shakes her head though and tries to focus. Gabriella had to remind herself how pissed off she was at him or otherwise she might just let him get away with whatever today. She looks up to find Chloe, Taylor, Sharpay, Chad and Zeke all walking quickly toward her. Chad seems to be in front of them and he stops in front of her. 

"Why the hell would you say yes to Nate?" He asks angrily and Gabriella rolls her eyes while she grabs a book from her locker.

"Because he asked me and he's a nice guy. Also because your best friend is a bastard and led me to believe that he was going to ask me to homecoming." Gabriella says matching his tone and Chad shakes his head.

"That's because he WAS going to ask you to the God damn dance!" Chad spits out and Gabriella raises her eyebrows.

"Then why the hell would he ask Bridget then?" She says standing her ground and Gabriella watches as Taylor puts a hand on Chad's shoulder to try and calm him down.

"Gabriella, what exactly did you and Chloe hear in the locker room?" She asks in a calm voice and Gabriella looks up at Chloe who nods as if to say "go on".

"Bridget said that Troy asked her and he didn't want the rest of the squad to know, so she shouldn't say anything about it until today. Why?" Gabriella says biting her lip so she didn't let the tears well up in her eyes again. She looks up to see Chad close his eyes and run a hand through his dreadlocks, a habit he might have picked up from Troy. She looks around to see everyone looking at each other nervously. "What's going on?"

"Bridget's a bitch, that's what." Sharpay says in a nasty tone and shakes her head.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella says confused and Chloe puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Gabs, honey, we heard wrong in the locker room yesterday. I think Bridget was trying to make you believe that Troy asked her so that then you would say yes to someone else and she could go with Troy." Chloe says and looks down. Gabriella looks from face to face.

"But Troy asked her during gym… I saw them!" Gabriella says suddenly starting to panic.

"He was asking her if they would stay outside for practice for another week, just like I told you yesterday." Chad starts and Gabriella's heart stops for the third time in the past two days. "He was planning on asking you after school today."

Gabriella stops breathing. She blew it. She completely blew it. It all made sense now. Bridget had been talking extremely loud yesterday in the locker room for a small conversation. How could she have been so stupid to believe a girl who had been after Troy since freshman year? She puts her head in her hands and closes her eyes. "Troy's going to be so mad when he finds out about Nate." Everyone else exchanges nervous glances once again. Her eyes widen when the realization dawns on her. "He knows doesn't he?" She says in a whisper and everyone nods.

"It came out just a few minutes ago." Taylor says and Gabriella sinks to the floor with her head in her hands. She feels Chad kneel down next to her and takes her in his arms.

"Is he pissed?" She asks into his shoulder and Chad laughs a little.

"Umm… pissed is an understatement." He says and Gabriella feels her eyes well up with tears. She was so stupid. How could she have done that to him? After they had worked so hard to get where they were now, and she blows it by saying yes to a guy she didn't even like. Chad brings her to a standing position and wipes her eyes in the most brotherly way possible. "Come on, he's gonna get over it. He cares about you too much not to." Chad says and shuts Gabriella's locker for her. All six of them then head off to homeroom. Right before they step into Darbus' class, Gabriella stops. Chad looks at the other four and waves them in. "You guys go ahead."

They leave and Gabriella looks up into Chad's deep eyes. "I screwed up big time didn't I?" She whispers and Chad sighs.

"You should have known better than to listen to Bridget. But I understand you were just confused." He says and she nods.

"I have to talk to him." She says and Chad shakes his head.

"Gabs, you didn't see him before, I really don't think it's a good idea." Gabriella shakes her head forcefully and sighs.

"I have to. I can't loose him." Gabriella states and Chad sighs.

"Gabs, there's something you have to know. You've never actually seen Troy get mad before." Gabriella starts to protest but Chad holds up his hand to shut her up. "No, even though you think you have, you haven't. Troy usually doesn't get pissed off easily. The only time I think it's been close is this summer he and I had an argument in the kitchen, but that was minimal. You have to understand, Troy gets nasty. You'd never expect it because he's the nice guy that everyone loves. But when he's pissed… you don't want to be around him. He turns into a bastard. I don't know what it is but it's almost as if Troy has two sides to him and this other side doesn't come out very often. The last time I think was sophomore year when a bunch of senior guys were scared because he was starting varsity so they were talking shit about his game. It was scary. It was almost as though he turned into the badass of the school. He skipped class, spent a lot of time in detention, I think he got into about three fights so everyone was afraid of him…" Chad pauses.

Gabriella sighs and looks down. "I know, but I'm the one that did this to him. I have to talk to him otherwise I could loose him for good. I deserve whatever he does to me anyways. Please Chad; I just need to talk to him." The warning bell rings and Gabriella looks up to find Chad nodding.

"Good luck. But don't say I didn't warn you." Chad says and Gabriella gives him an encouraging nod. They quickly hug and Chad walks into the class room. Gabriella takes a deep breath in a follows. She looks over to see Troy was facing Jason laughing about something. If he was pissed, he didn't look like it but there was a different atmosphere to him. She looks closer to find his smile turned into a smirk and There was something about the way he was. Gabriella takes another deep breath and walks over to his desk and stands there. Troy gives her a quick glance but then turns back around. She sighs and looks down at him.

"Troy." She says forcefully but he doesn't turn around. "TROY!" She says louder and she hears him groan and finally turn around. It was the first time she had actually seen his face and she almost took a step back in shock. It was the gorgeous face that she had known for so long, but it was different. His cheeks were tight and his chin was hard. But what scared her most were his eyes. The normal beautiful blue ones and turned to pure ice that pierced into her own soft brown ones. She almost couldn't stand to look at him but she had to.

"WHAT?!" He hisses out and Gabriella closes her eyes, almost regretting this decision to talk to him.

"Can we talk at lunch?" She asks quietly and Troy surveys her up and down for a moment, making her back up.

"No." He says plainly and Gabriella closes her eyes. She opens them again, certain that she's not going to back down, so she stands a little taller and takes another deep breath. The final bell rings in the background but she wasn't paying attention to it.

"Why not?" Gabriella asks boldly and Troy narrows his eyes on her and shakes her head.

"Because I don't want to fucking talk to you." He spits out. Gabriella felt her heart break a little farther as Ms. Darbus enters the room.

"Happy Thursday everybody!" Her voice echoes the room but stood her ground in front of Troy who was still glaring at her. "Ms. Montez, unless you and Mr. Bolton are discussing something that is of dire importance, would you please sit down?"

Gabriella sighs and closes her eyes as she makes her way back into the empty seat that Taylor left for her. As she sits down, Taylor places a hand on her shoulder and mouths "It's gonna be ok." Gabriella shakes her head though knowing better. It wasn't going to be ok and she knew it. She puts her head into her hands and watches as Ms. Darbus smiles at everyone.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes because I have to copy these scripts. I trust you all will behave yourselves. I'm taking attendance as soon as I come back, so don't bother leaving." Darbus says as she leaves the room. Gabriella watches as Troy gets up and walks toward the door.

"Troy! Where are you going?" Chad yells while he stands up and Troy shrugs his shoulders.

"The gym. This is a waste of time. I'll see ya at lunch." He says and starts to open the door.

"You heard Darbus, she's taking attendance when she comes back." Jason says and Troy laughs.

"Fuck that. You think I care what Darbus thinks? Anyways, I'll see ya later." He says and laughs a strange laugh that Gabriella didn't think belonged to him. He walks out with out giving Gabriella a second glance. She closes her eyes knowing this was completely her fault.

"What was that about?" Taylor asks Chad and he shakes his head. His eyes lock on Gabriella's who nods.

"We're about to see a different Troy that I don't think anyone is going to get used to anytime soon." He says as Ms. Darbus walks back into the room.


	18. The Other Side of Troy

**Author's Note**: Thanks for reading guys. I just wanted to try and make this clear because I don't know if I did in the story. Troy doesn't know that Bridget acted like he asked her to homecoming. And I know some of you don't like the other Troy, but I don't know I do. Plus I'm going to show you why he acts like this later on in the story. And one more thing, after reading this chapter I realized that I have some pretty heavy language in this story. And I'm still debating whether or not I'm going to change the rating. So let me know what you guys think! I love this chapter, it's my favorite so far, and I really hope you guys do too so enjoy!

* * *

Troy felt distant from his body. His heart was breaking with every breath he took in. The ball beneath is fingertips left his hand and then returned as he bounced it up and down. He had changed out of the green polo and jeans he was wearing and was now in a black t-shirt that he had cut so it was sleeveless and red basketball shorts. Troy runs across the gym and shoots the ball, only to have it miss. As it drops to the ground, he sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. He felt so disconnected to his body that he felt like he was watching himself do all this. Troy shoots the ball again only to have it bounce off the rim back at him. He catches it and yells angrily. "FUCK THIS!" as he chucks the ball at the wall only to watch it bounce back at him.

"You know, I don't think throwing temper tantrums at a basketball is going to help you with your shot." Troy's body tenses up. The teachers weren't supposed to be down here since it was close to lunch time. Troy's body whips around to find his best friend walking toward him. He sighs in relief and shakes his head.

"Aren't you supposed to be in fourth hour?" Troy says and Chad shakes his head.

"Nope, cuz fourth hour is done. It's lunch right now." Chad says and Troy looks up at the clock to find it out it was indeed, lunch time. Troy had been so caught up in his game that he didn't even realize an hour had gone by without his knowledge. He had tried to focus only on basketball and not try to think, because thinking about Gabriella is what made it painful. "So how'd you get around the teachers or your dad not seeing you?"

Troy shrugs and bounces the ball once. "When I heard people going into the locker room, I went outside to shoot. But I think my dad saw me once. Not that it matters, he won't do anything anyways." Troy says in a matter of fact tone that he didn't even intend to be there.

"You know you're lucky you have a friend like me." Chad says jokingly, but Troy narrows his eyes anyways.

"Why?"

Chad shrugs and holds out his hands for Troy to pass the ball to him. Rolling his eyes, he chucks it at him and Chad looks at him skeptically. "Because I told Darbus you were sick and were in the health office. I then went in there and told the nurse that I felt sick, so she had me lie down for like five minutes. She left the room for some reason and I grabbed a pass for you and filled it out and turned it into the office, so you're cleared."

"You think I care if I'm cleared or not?" Troy asks and Chad shakes his head taking a shot and Troy watches disgustedly as it goes in. He watches as Chad rolls his eyes and passes the ball back to Troy with more force that normal.

"So are you alright?" Chad asks and Troy shoots a glance at him.

"Who are you Dr. Phil?" He says with a smartass attitude and Chad seems to be fighting with himself about something and shakes his head.

"No, I'm your best friend if that counts for something." Chad says and Troy notices the annoyed tone in his voice. Troy sighs and dibbles the ball once again.

"I'm fine." He responds and Chad rolls his eyes.

"You don't look fine."

Troy runs his fingers through his hair and then shakes his head. "Whatever, I don't want to talk about it." He says honestly and Chad nods.

"Ok fine, but can I ask you a question?"

Troy looks at him for a moment with his eyebrows raised and shrugs. "If you feel you have to."

Chad nods and Troy passes him the ball again. "Who are you going to ask now?" Troy closes his eyes. He had been think about this all morning and he scratches the back of his neck out of habit, then takes it down because he didn't want to look weak.

"Maybe I should ask Bridget because Gabriella thinks that low of me. Or I'll just go solo." Troy says with anger in his voice and Chad shakes his head.

"Troy that's stupid." Chad says and Troy sighs annoyed because he knows that Chad is right. He smirks a bit and shrugs. Chad rolls his eyes.

"Whatever. I'll find a date. I'm Troy Bolton, the most popular guy in school; any girl would kill to go with me."

Suddenly, Chad's eyes shoot up and meet Troy's piercing blue ones. They stand there for a moment glaring at each other. It was the first time EVER Troy had flaunted his popularity. Sure, everyone had known it, but NEVER would anyone expect Troy to say it. He was even shocked himself that it came out of his mouth. Chad violently chucks the ball back at Troy and takes a couple steps forward, into Troy's face. "I understand you're pissed off, Bolton and you have every right to be. Gabriella should have known better than to say yes to Nate and think that you were going with Bridget." He starts and then shakes his head. "But acting like a jackass to your best friend isn't going to solve anything. Go ahead; see if I care if you act like a bastard to everyone else! But do not treat me like shit because I won't stand for it." Chad says and steps back at him for a moment. Troy lowers his eyes, finally letting his guard down since he found out about Gabriella and Nate. He nods and looks up at Chad who was staring at him.

"Sorry. That was out of line." Troy mumbles and Chad nods. Troy scratches the back of his neck again and looks up at Chad, thinking the thought he had been thinking all morning. "Chloe."

Chad looks up at him confused and raises his eyebrows. "Sorry?"

Troy sighs. "You asked me who I'm going to ask now. I'm gonna ask Chloe." Chad smiles slightly and Troy shoots once more. It misses once again and he passes it back to Chad. "She's one of my closest friends and I know she doesn't have a date yet. So we might as well just go together."

"Good choice." He says and shoots, making it in once again. Troy sighs as he looks at the clock.

"And thanks for getting me out of the day." He says in the soft voice he normally has. Troy makes the decision that he was going to be an asshole to everyone except for Chad. He was still angry, and had to take his anger our somewhere, but it was no use taking it out on Chad. He didn't even know why he was an asshole every time he was pissed off. There really was no reason for it. But it was something he did and it wasn't going to change just because of Gabriella. "Just don't expect me to be nice to anyone else."

Chad nods and smirks a little. "Fine, just don't expect me to be an asshole with you." Chad says and Troy nods in understanding. Chad passes the ball to Troy once again who shoots and makes it in for the first time all day.

* * *

Gabriella was sitting on the ground with her back against her locker at lunch. Chloe was sitting next to her and Sharpay was standing above her playing with her hair. Everyone else was in the cafeteria except for Chad, who she knew was looking for Troy. Everyone else had wanted to stay with her, but she didn't want to be around too many people. So Chloe and surprisingly Sharpay volunteered to keep her company. They hadn't really said much since the lunch period started and Gabriella didn't mind this. Sharpay and Chloe had already eaten their lunches but Gabriella hadn't been hungry. Plus she was pretty sure whatever she put into her mouth was probably going to come back up anyway. 

"Gabs, honey you need to eat something." Chloe says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"I told you I'm not hungry." She responds in a small voice. She couldn't stop thinking about Troy and the pain in his eyes. What she did was selfish and stupid and she regretted ever thinking about it.

"I can get Zeke to give you one of his brownies. They'll make you cheer up." Sharpay says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"Thanks Sharpay but I think I'll pass." She says with a small smile since she knew the blond was only trying to help her. But there was only one person who would make her feel better, and he probably wasn't ever going to talk to her again. But she needed to talk to him. He didn't have to forgive her, but she just needed to talk to him and try and make things a little better.

"So what are you going to do?" Sharpay asks finally kneeling down to Gabriella's level. She had been thinking about this all morning and had thought she had come up with an idea. All she knew was that she had to talk to him today, or the damage might only just get worse.

"I have to talk to him." She says in a small voice and Chloe's eyes get wide.

"Gabs I don't think that's a smart idea. You tried to talk to him earlier and he blew you off." She says reasonably and Gabriella shakes her head.

"I know, but it was fresh when I talked to him. Now that it's sunk in a little, I think I'm going to talk to him after preseason today."

"Gabriella, I know you need to talk to him but he's not going to want to talk… you should have heard him after he found out." Chloe says again and then sighs; Gabriella figures she knows she can't change her mind.

"It's your choice I guess." She says and then looks up at Sharpay. "I'll wait with you after school if you want. And I'm sure Taylor wouldn't mind cuz then she can watch Chad anyways."

Sharpay sighs. "I would stay with you and watch Zeke, but I have rehearsal." She says and Gabriella nods in thanks for the thought. Suddenly, the bell rings and people start filing into the hallway. Gabriella finally stands up and opens her locker, trying to gather all the courage she can for after school.

* * *

Troy enters the locker room with Chad after Mr. Guerrero lets them go at the end of the day. He didn't bother changing all day since he never left the gym. He managed to stay away from Gabriella all gym hour, although they had made eye contact once and he saw the pain in her eyes. Good. It was what he wanted. He wanted her to feel bad for what she did to him. Because there was no way in hell she was hurting as badly as he was. Troy opens up his gym locker and grabs his gym bag and doesn't bother to wait for Chad to walk out with him. So he sets it down in the middle of the gym on the bleachers and sits down, putting his head in his hands. 

"Dude, come on, get up." He hears Chad's voice and a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and gives his best friend a weak smile, as he shakes his head. Troy stands up and looks over Chad's shoulder to see a couple people entering the gym. The softness in Troy's eyes immediately is wiped away and the blue return to the piercing color that he had gotten so used to putting on. He watches as all of the guys eventually come out and he suddenly feels his veins turn to ice. Nate was just walking out of the locker room with a smile on his face that Troy wanted to rip off. He could feel his eyes narrow, as if trying to figure out the best way to go in for the attack. His fist clenches and his jaw becomes tight. Troy feels himself take a step forward but Chad grabs his shoulder to hold him back. "Troy calm down."

Troy's eyes become slits at this comment and forcefully throws Chad's hand off of his shoulder. He didn't want to be calm. He wanted Nate to know how much pain he was in. He wanted Nate to pay for putting him through this hell and taking Gabriella away from him. Chad's hand shakes his shoulder again as if telling him that the practice has to start. He growls and shakes his head. "WILDCATS!" He yells, in loud, demanding voice and everyone forms a circle in the center of the gym. Troy pushes his way through forcefully and purposefully hits Nate's shoulder so hard, it could have bruised him. "Throw the basketballs in the corner. We're conditioning today." He spits out and everyone looks around confused. He smirks as everyone groans since they all knew that it was going to be a tough practice. Good, he could let his anger out through them.

"Troy, it's preseason." Jasons makes the comment as everyone goes to put the basketball onto the rack and Troy shrugs with a glare.

"So?" Troy says showing he doesn't care and Jason shrinks back a little, obviously afraid of him. Zeke takes a small step forward.

"We just don't want to burn out for when the season starts. We can't go too intense right?" He says and Troy looks around to find everyone had returned nodding their heads in agreement. He knew he was out of line to make them run the whole practice but it was making him feel better.

"If that's how you feel Zeke, then leave." Troy snarls and looks around at the entire group. "If anyone feels this is too intense for them, then they can leave now!" He yells and no one moves. "No hard feelings. I won't feel offended!" He says in a quieter voice, but it was just as angry. "Good." Troy says in a normal voice level and sets up the score board so that the clock reads three minutes. He turns back to the guys who were all in shock except Chad, Zeke, and Jason. They all knew why Troy was doing this and weren't happy about it, but understood it was out of his pain. He smirks at the team and glances up at the score board. "We're gonna do suicides." The guys all groan. "For those of you who can't remember, suicides are where you start on the baseline, then run to the closest free throw line, then run back. Then you run to the half, then back, and so on until you hit the opposite base line, then you start over again. Try to get seven in three minutes."

He hears someone whisper "Has he lost his _mind_?" The truth was, yes, he probably had lost him mind. If there was a small hint of his reasonable side in him, it was screaming at this new Troy telling him this was stupid. But reason wasn't want he wanted. He wanted pain.

"Troy!" Chad runs over while everyone goes up on the baseline. "Troy, come on. Seven?"

Troy shrugs and jogs over to the rest of the team. "We can do it." He says and then presses a button on the remote he was holding in his hands and the buzzer goes off. He chucks the remote into the corner and starts sprinting, getting ahead of everyone else.

After about forty minutes of drills like this, Troy watches as Kyle runs up to him. "Troy, we need water." He pants and Troy closes his eyes and sighs. If anyone else had come up and said something to him, he probably would have told them to suck it up. But this was different.

"Alright, wildcats take five minutes for water." He yells and watches as everyone walk outside into the hall to get water. He sighs and closes his eyes. Troy opens them and turns around to put a CD into the audio system. After five minutes, everyone returns and circles up in the center. Troy goes into the middle and looks at everyone, making sure that he gives a death glare to Nate. "Alright, we're gonna do pacer test."

"Dude, we do that in gym!" One of the JV guys yell. It was true, the pacer test was used for gym, but Troy also knew that it would be good to get them faster on the court. But most of all, he wanted to do it because he wanted to run his pain out.

"Well then you should be good at it then." Troy spits out. "Does anyone have anymore complaints?" He says annoyed and when no one moves he smirks, knowing all of them were terrified of him right now. "Good. Then everyone on the side line."

Troy presses play and after a short introduction, the first sound beeps. They all start off jogging and talking, Troy figured they were all talking about how insane he was for making them run all of practice. He didn't care though. It was how he was going to let his anger out at Gabriella. He quickly glances over at Nate, narrowing his eyes. How could she like someone like him? She belonged to Troy and everyone knew it. Why did Nate have to put him into this hell?

Before he knew it, the pace had quickened and he over hears the CD count "70". They were already on 70? Troy looks back to find people were dropping out left and right. "75" Troy knew his body was numb, so he couldn't feel the pain in his legs. "85". He looks back to find that Zeke and Jason had dropped out, and there were only five guys left which included Chad, Nate, a junior, Kyle, and himself. "90." The junior drops out. His eyes narrow as he sees the blond hair not reducing in speed and Troy picks the pace up. He was clearly making it before each beep to the end line. "95." Chad and Kyle both drop at the same time and it was down to himself and Nate. He couldn't give Nate the satisfaction of winning both this and Gabriella. "100." Troy finally feels the lactic acid start to build up in his legs and but he pushes harder. "This is for Gabriella." He thinks to himself as both he and Nate glace at each other "105". Troy's legs move faster and his lungs were starting to close on him. Way off in the distance, the team was cheering for him, and to his dismay, a couple people were cheering for Nate. "110" Finally, as Troy felt that he had to stop, he watches as Nate stops running and Troy smirks to himself. "120" He reaches the end line to add seven more then Nate did and collapses to his knees. He did it! He suddenly feels about 15 people rush to his side and the gym starts to spin.

"TROY!" Chad yells as Troy starts to see the gym enclose in blackness and closes his eyes. He wasn't passed out but he didn't have the energy to actually open his eyes. He suddenly feels soft hands touch his face and knows it's not one of the guys. Someone must have called the nurse or something. He feels his body being picked up and then set down on something wood that he assumes is the bleachers. The woman's hands grab his arm and try shaking him gently. "Someone go get help!" He hears Chad's voice echo and he shakes his head.

"I'm fine." He says in a raspy voice and finally opens his eyes. The bright lights blind him for a moment and he sees a small figure standing over him. A smile forms on his lips as he thinks he must have gotten knocked out because the figure looked just like Gabriella. Who ever it was steps back and Troy sits up with his eyes focusing finally. He places his head in his hands and looks up to find Chad kneeling in front of him.

"Dude, you scared the shit out of us." He says and Troy shakes his head.

"I'm fine." He says again in the asshole tone that he had been using all day and Chad rolls his eyes.

"He's good guys." Chad says and Troy stands up to see that everyone was surrounding him. He looks over and his eyes widen as he sees Chloe, Taylor, and Gabriella standing outside the circle that the team had formed. Anger fills his face once again as he sees Nate standing close to where Gabriella was. His ice blue eyes pierce into her brown ones as he realizes she WAS the one who was touching him. He rips his eyes away from hers and turns to the team.

"Everyone take five." He yells and everyone pats him on the shoulder as they leave. Troy walks out into the middle of the gym, not feeling as light headed and reaches to grab cones.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chad yells running over to him. Chad, Zeke, Nate, Jason, and the girls were the only ones in the gym now. Troy snarls as he realizes that the only reason Nate was still here was because Gabriella was in the gym.

"Setting up for another drill." Troy says bluntly and all of their eyes grow wide.

"Dude, you almost passed out! We can't do another drill!" Zeke exclaims and Troy rolls his eyes.

"Thanks Mom, but I'm fine!" Troy says and they all shake their heads. Troy's patience was running low and his anger was starting to boil in his skin. "Don't you want us to get better?"

"Yea, but Troy…" Jason starts and Troy shakes his head. He could feel the anger starting to work his way through his body and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"We're doing another drill." Troy spits out and turns around. The voice he wanted to hear the least fills Troy's ears.

"Troy, we've done enough drills. Doing them over and over is only going to wear us out." Nate says calmly and Troy finally feels his head explode.

Troy spins around with ice in his eyes and heart. "YOU KNOW WHAT NATE? IF YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT'S GOOD FOR THIS TEAM, THEN WHY DON'T YOU BE FUCKING CAPTION!!!!" He roars and it echoes through out the gym. His body started to tremble and he could feel his face get hot. Every feeling of anger was poring out of his pores and he was letting it out all on Nate. "OH YEA, THAT'S RIGHT! YOU DON'T HAVE TIME BECAUSE YOUR TOO BUSY FUCKING MY EX GIRLFRIEND!" He bellows and that was it. No one moved, no one said a word. None of the other guys had entered the gym yet. It was just the eight of them and Troy finally takes a huge breath to try and to stop his body from shaking. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes but he quickly blinds them away. Nate looked like he had just gotten shot. His eyes were wide and he was pale as can be.

"Troy…" He starts in a tiny voice but Troy didn't want to hear it. He had to get out of there before he lost control and started breaking down. He pushes though all four of them and yells over his shoulder.

"I'm going to the weight room. Chad, take over." He says in a shaky voice and runs over to grab his gym bag. He quickly grabs it and finally looks up at the girl on the bleachers who caused him this much pain. Gabriella had tears streaming down her face and that's all it took for Troy's eyes to match hers. They were both silent but Troy felt the tears dripping down his face as he watched Gabriella start to take a step forward. Troy, realizing that he was going to break down, quickly sprints out of the gym to get to a safe place before he finally broke down crying in the weight room.


	19. Gotta Go Your Own Way

Gabriella watches in horror as Troy runs quickly out of the gym. Her body felt numb because she knew this was all her fault. The girls had come right before Troy made them do the pacer test and Gabriella watched in shock as he battled Nate. She knew that the only reason both guys pushed so hard was to beat the other. Then when Troy collapsed, she panicked and ran to him. And now she had just gotten done watching Troy scream at Nate about her. She closes her eyes and feels more tears slip down her face then opens them up again to see Chad walking toward the doors. "Dude? Where are you going?" Zeke yells and turns around.

"After him. Nate, he didn't mean it. He's just frustrated right now." Gabriella hears Chad respond and watches as Nate nods his head.

"This is all my fault. I thought it was ok because I heard he was going with Bridget…" She hears Nate say and she shakes her head. 'No, it's my fault' she thinks and watches as Chad smiles slightly.

"It's not your fault and he's not going with Bridget. Plus, you had full right to ask her." She hears Chad say like Gabriella wasn't even in the gym. "But I gotta go. Zeke, Jason, have everyone scrimmage for about ten minutes then let them go. Don't tell them what happened though. I don't want to do that to Troy." He says and turns around to walk out of the gym but Gabriella makes a quick decision and runs down the bleachers.

"CHAD! Chad stop!" She yells as she runs up to him and stops in front of him. "Let me talk to him."

Chad's eyes grow wide and he shakes his head. "Are you on crack Gabriella? Did you not just see what happened?" Chad asks and Gabriella nods. "He was yelling about you. It's suicide if you go talk to him."

Gabriella nods her head and sighs. "It maybe, but you and I both know that he won't listen to you at all."

"He'll listen to me more then he'll listen to you." He says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"That maybe but Troy may want to start a fight with you. Troy won't hurt me. No matter how pissed off he is, he won't hit me." She says and Chad sighs.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into Gabs." Chad says and Gabriella gives him a quick hug. She turns walks out the door to find the rest of the wildcats start to file back in talking happily. They must not have heard Troy and she was thankful for that. Gabriella quickly runs down the hallway and stops in front of the door of the weight room. She could hear hard rock music blaring behind the door and suddenly becomes afraid. She had no idea how he was going to react to her and was extremely scared to find out. 'It's just Troy Gabriella.' She says in her head and takes a deep breath. 'He won't hurt you.'

She takes one more deep breath and then turns the doorknob and swings the door open. Gabriella looks inside to find Troy at the bench press lifting quickly. She closes the door behind her and turns down the music a little bit. Troy doesn't seem to notice because he doesn't look up. Once done with his set, he places the bar back and lies there fore a moment. Gabriella takes another deep breath and then closes her eyes. She opens them again and lets the air out. "Troy." She says softly.

Gabriella watches as Troy's body tenses up. He doesn't look up at her so she walks toward him slowly, almost scared. He finally sits up straddling the bench he was on and makes eye contact with her. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot probably from crying and his blue eyes were piercing once again. He wipes the sweat off of his forehead but maintains eye contact with her. "What?!" He spits out angrily and Gabriella carefully sits down on the bench with him. They were only two feet away but Gabriella felt like it was more like miles.

"We need to talk." She says and Troy laughs sarcastically. He moves his legs like Gabriella wasn't even there and goes back down into a laying position. She stands up and Troy grabs the bar again and starts lifting up and down.

"No… we… don't" He says in between each lift and then finishes his set once more and sits up again.

"Yes we do." Gabriella says forcefully and Troy shakes his head.

"I don't want to talk." He spits out and stands up walking over to the free weights. Gabriella sighing annoyingly and places a hand on the weight he was lifting. They both stare at it for a moment, as if it was breaking the barrier between the two of them.

"Too bad because I do." She says angrily again and Troy lifts his arm to shake her hand off. She stands there with her arms crossed waiting for him to stop. She wasn't going to let him go without a fight. She cared about him too much to do that. "You know yelling at Nate was stupid since he didn't do anything."

Troy laughs sarcastically again and shakes his head, not looking at her. "Sorry if I offended your boyfriend, but the last time I checked he didn't have a "C" on his jersey." Troy says like a smartass and Gabriella frowns.

"He's not my boyfriend Troy!" She says with more edge in her voice then she intended. His eyes remain fixed on the floor as he switches arms and starts lifting. "We're going to a fucking dance together!"

Troy's eyes shoot up and make eye contact with her. Gabriella RARELY ever said "fuck" unless she was really pissed off about something. But she wasn't pissed; she was just trying to make him understand. She was loosing him with ever second that went by. "Whatever, you can date him, see if I give a shit."

Gabriella's eyes narrow at him. "You do give a shit because you're pretty upset over him just asking me!" She says close to yelling. Troy's eyes narrow and he drops the weight he was lifting and walks over to her. His jaw was set and Gabriella takes a step backward because he looked incredibly pissed.

"Maybe if you wouldn't have fucking led me to believe that you wanted to go with me!" He says coldly but didn't raise his voice. The effect scared Gabriella just as much though. She takes a step back and Troy takes a step forward. She was looking up into his ice blue eyes with pain and he was staring down into her brown ones with anger. If you wouldn't have know they were fighting, they were so close together they could have gotten away with looking like they were about to kiss. She takes another step backward and Troy steps forward again to close the gap.

"I DID want to go with you Troy!" Gabriella pleads and takes another step backward, only to run into a wall. She was stuck now, there was no where to go from here. Troy's eyes look like the soften a bit and Gabriella sees a hint of hope, but that hint goes away when the ice returns to them.

"Right… because you obviously proved that!" Troy says sarcastically and Gabriella feels tears well up into her eyes.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING WITH BRIDGET!" Gabriella yells and Troy actually takes a step backward from the shock. He returns to his spot and shakes his head. He places his two arms above her shoulders on the wall, caging her in trying to make her feel intimidated. She would have loved this if they both weren't fighting, but now it was just scaring her.

"I TOLD YOU WEEKS AGO THAT I WASN'T EVEN FRIENDS WITH HER! SO WHY THE HELL WOULD I ASK HER?!" Troy yells matching her volume and Gabriella closes her eyes.

"I don't know but you hadn't asked me yet!" She spits out and Troy's eyes narrow once again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks and Gabriella feels the tears in her eyes finally slipping down her face.

"Well if you were going to ask me, when were you planning on doing it? Next week Friday?" She asks and throws her hands up to add the dramatic effect. She watches as Troy's eyes turn colder if that was even possible. She watches as he finally turns around and walks into the center of the weight room and goes through his gym bag. Gabriella thought this action was strange, but then Troy picks something up and throws in across the room so it lands at her feet. She picks it up and finds it's some sort of CD. There were three pictures of them on the cover and Gabriella reads the title that said Homecoming? Gabriella covers her mouth as the realization dawns on her. She looks up to see Troy's eyes were once again bloodshot and glossy.

"I was going to ask you today." He says softly and Gabriella sees his eyes were finally the crystal blue that they normally were, not the ice that she had seen all day. A single tears falls from his eye and Gabriella walks toward him. All she wanted to do was let him hold her and never let go, and beg for forgiveness for what she put him through.

"Troy…" She says softly and reaches out to grab his face. Troy suddenly backs up, not letting her touch him. Gabriella looks at him confused and watches as his eyes slowly turn back to the ice that she was getting used to seeing.

"I can't do this." Troy whispers and runs a hand through his hair. Gabriella keeps walking toward him.

"Troy!" She says and he quickly grabs his bag and starts to walk out the door. "Troy, please stop!"

His eyes, quickly turning back to the piercing color, gaze upon her for a moment. "No. I told you I didn't want to talk." He says harshly and Gabriella feels the tears run faster down her face.

"What am I supposed to do Troy?" She asks, although she really meant, "How do you want me to make this better?" Troy glares at her for a second longer and then she watches him wipe his eyes and start to walk out the door. He stops and turns his head around, but doesn't look at her.

"I guess you gotta go your own way huh?" He says and leaves the room. Gabriella stands there for a moment, not sure what to think. She suddenly falls to her knees and places her head in her hands, sobbing. This was awful, and she knew it was all her fault. Cold plastic touches her wet face as she looks down at the CD once again. This was a mistake because this makes her cry even harder. They had worked so hard to try and get things back to how they were and they were so close to going out again, but she had to blow it. Gabriella feels her body start to tremble as she realizes that she might have just killed her and Troy's last chance at a relationship. After a minute or so, she feels strong arms grab her's and bring her to a standing position. She removes her hands from her face and watches as Chad brings her into a hug. Gabriella starts sobbing in his arms once again and suddenly feels a hand rub her back. She pulls away from Chad to see Taylor standing there with a small smile on her face and Chloe standing behind her.

"We heard yelling in here and saw Troy leave. He looked like he was crying. What happened in here?" Taylor asks her when Gabriella had stopped sobbing and sat down on the bench that Troy had set his bag on earlier. She shakes her head and continues to grip the CD in her hand.

Gabriella shakes her head and looks up at all three of them with tears still in her eyes. "He was going to ask me to homecoming today." She whispers and Taylor sits down next to her and rubs her back.

"Oh honey…I had no idea." She says and looks up at Chad. He nods and Gabriella takes in a deep breath trying to keep herself from crying once again.

"He hates me." Gabriella whispers and closes her eyes. "He's never going to talk to me again."

Chad shakes his head and kneels down to her level. "He doesn't hate you. He's just pissed off that for once in his life; he didn't get what he wanted. He's being a baby about it…" Gabriella begins to protest but Chad holds up his hand to shut her up. "No, it's true. Even though I love Troy like my brother, he shouldn't act like a bastard. He thinks you led him on and I think he believes that you don't like him again more and you want to go out with Nate instead."

Gabriella's eyes widen. "That's not true! I lo…" Chad holds his hand up to stop her again.

"I know Gabs, I know. We all know and I think deep down Troy knows too. But at the moment his anger is blinding him. But I think you shouldn't try to talk to him anymore, at least for awhile. He's now shot you down twice and I think all you can do now is make matters worse. If he comes to you, great. But please stop trying to go to him. Troy's not himself now and he's not going to listen to you." Chad finishes and Gabriella sighs.

"I know, I guess the ball is in his court now. Thanks guys, I don't know what I'd do without you." She says and each one of them places a hand on her arm. They slowly start to get up to leave. A sudden question pops into Gabriella's head and she turns to Chad. "Wait, I have to ask you something."

Chad nods and they walk out the door to the weight room and turn off all of the lights. "Shoot."

"What's Troy going to do about homecoming now? He's not planning on asking Bridget is he?" Gabriella asks with a sudden panic in her voice. Chad shakes his head and Gabriella breathes a little easier.

"No, actually he said he was going to ask you." Chad says and turns around to look at Chloe. At first, a rage of jealousy fills Gabriella's veins but then she thinks about it for a moment and smiles.

Chloe's eyes grow wide and she shakes her head. "Gabs, I wouldn't do that to you. I'll just tell him…"

"You'll tell him yes." Gabriella says as they start to walk up the stairs to reach the entrance of the school. She really did mean this. "You don't have a date, and he doesn't have a date. You guys are great friends and I think you should go together. Besides, I'd want you to go with him so then I know that you won't try to pull a move on him. So, please Chloe, I'm asking you to say yes. I mean, if you want to." Gabriella adds in with a small smile and Chloe sighs.

"Are you sure?" She asks and Gabriella nods.

"More than sure." She says and stops to give her friend a hug. She really did mean every word that she just said and was actually relieved that Troy would be going with someone who she knew wouldn't try anything on him. They finally reach Gabriella's car and all take turns hugging her. She wanted to release more tears but found the courage to keep them inside.

"If you need anything Gabs, my phone will be on all night." Taylor states and Gabriella smiles at all of them.

"Thanks guys. But I think I'll be ok." She smiles at them and they wave, Chad and Taylor walking hand in hand while Chloe goes the other way to reach their cars. Gabriella hops inside her own car and tells her self to focus on the road. She pulls out of the parking lot and heads back to her off toward her house.

She pulls into the driveway and gets out of the car to find that her mom hadn't returned home from work yet. Gabriella sighs and walks inside and immediately runs upstairs into her room. After shutting the door, she finally looks at herself in the mirror to find that she's a mess. He hair had gotten frizzy and most of her make up had moved from her eyes onto her cheeks. She took a Kleenex and wiped her cheeks clean and sits down on the bed. Her hand reaches inside of her bag and slowly pulls out a small object then goes inside of her purse to grab the "T" necklace. As soon as she see this, the tears well up in her eyes once more but she quickly blinks them away telling herself that she can't cry, at least not yet.

Gabriella picks up the other object she pulled out and stares down at the cover. One of the pictures was with her and Troy standing in front of a small fountain at prom. The second one was the picture that was up in her locker with her in her orange and white dress on Troy's back and the final one was new to her. But as soon as she looked at it closer, she remembered taking it. It was on the first day they had started working at Lava Springs and Taylor thought that they should take plenty of pictures during the summer so that they would have amazing memories. Well, that turned into to a bust. But the picture was in the kitchen and Troy's arm was wrapped around her waist. Her head was resting in her favorite spot in his neck and she lets out a small smile.

She opens the CD case to find a small note fall out. She picks it up and opens it to find Troy's hand writing. _Gabi, I made this for you because I thought maybe you'd like to listen to the soundtrack of our lives. Listen to the end of the final song and maybe it will make a little more sense. Enjoy! Love, T._

Gabriella finally felt the tears well up in her eyes once more but refused to let them fall. She walks over to her CD player and puts it inside and presses play. Suddenly she hears a few piano bars, and smiles to her self when she regonizes the song. But the smile suddenly turned into her choking back tears when she hears Troy's voice sing, "_Living in my own world, didn't understand, that anything can happen, when you take a chance_". He must have gotten the music off the internet or something because she remembered that this was the only song that Kelsi didn't write. Gabriella found herself sitting down on her bed listening to Troy's voice sing the whole song. It was beautiful.

After about an a half hour of listening to the most of the CD, Gabriella finally takes a deep breath and hears a few notes of the piano playing. Her heart jumps up into her throat as she begins to hear her own voice.

"_Nah nah nah nah_

_Nah nah nah nah yea_

_You are the music in me_

_You know the words once apon a time_

_Make you listen, there's a reason"_

Gabriella smiles as she hears her voice stop and Troy's voice take over.

"_When you dream _

_there's a chance you'll find,_

_A little laughter_

_Or a happy ever after"_

Gabriella covers her mouth as she finally realizes that Kelsi had never needed Gabriella for help with the musical. Troy needed her voice. Because he knew it wouldn't be the song same without the two of them singing together. Gabriella also finally understood what a mistake she made this summer when she believed that taking a break would be good for them. It was the exact opposite. Gabriella was never complete without Troy and Troy would never be complete without Gabriella. One could never reach their full potential without the other. No matter what it was, Troy would always bring the best out of Gabriella and vise versa. Making them be apart was only hurting both of them. Gabriella feels the tears finally stream down her face as she silently cries. The song finally reached the last chorus and Gabriella knew what was coming. At the last line of the song, she heard her own voice singing "You are the music in me!" But what was different was Troy's. Instead of what she knew, Troy changed the lyrics.

"_Will you go to homecoming with me?"_

Gabriella suddenly falls to her knees once again and continues to silently cry. She looks down at the CD cover once more and nods. "I wish I was Troy." She whispers. "I wish I was."


	20. Past Mistakes

**Author's Note:** So I know you guys want to get more to the Troyella part, but I thought maybe I would explain why Troy has his other side. I really don't like this chapter and I really don't think that you guys are going to either. So just bare with me on this! By the way, this is also gonna come up again later, so just keep it in the back of your head. Thanks again for reading! Reviews are great!

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Troy was lying on his couch in just basketball shorts and a bare t-shirt. He was staring at the TV even though he knew nothing was ever on at 1:30 in the afternoon. He had spent most of the morning outside shooting and trying to get his mind off of a certain girl who decided to mess with his heart. But he wasn't going to think about her, because every time he did it just hurt a hell of a lot more. Thankfully, he managed to avoid her all day Thursday and yesterday. They hadn't talked since the weight room and he was glad for it. He didn't need her anymore, any way in hell. If she wanted to be with Nate, that's fine with him. He didn't care about her at all so it didn't matter.

"The forecast for tonight is a high of 72 with a chance of…" 'Boring' Troy thought. _Click_. Who was he kidding? Of course he cared about her! Otherwise he wouldn't be acting like an asshole! "There's no place like home!" 'Hell no' _click_. Everyone knew Troy turned into an asshole when he was pissed off, well maybe except Gabriella. Because she wasn't here the last time that this other side of Troy made himself known. "I'm Martha Stewart and today we'll be making…" 'NO!' _click_. Troy sighs as he starts to feel his eyes close slightly. Gabriella had no idea what happened that caused him to act this way. It was something that was never talked about probably because no one really knew what happened. Everyone had just assumed that Troy started getting into one of these moods because a bunch of seniors were talking shit about him being on starting varsity. But that wasn't it. It was just a cover that Troy had taken because that's what everyone just assumed it was. No one knew the real reason why Troy had developed his back side…

_Troy quickly passed the ball to Dan and watched as it soared in the air and went into the net. Relief spreads over Troy's body and he went over to give Dan a high five and then quickly looked up at the scoreboard. There were two seconds left and Troy watched as the opposing team quickly passes the ball in and shot the ball as a desperate attempt but airballed it completely. The buzzer sounded and the whole gym erupted in cheers. Troy felt himself being enclosed by a tight hug from Dan and they ran over to the rest of the team, all giving each other hugs and cheering. _

"_You played amazing Bolton!" Dan, a junior, stated and Troy smiled. "You played better than all of the seniors out there!"_

_Troy beamed at this comment. This was the game that proved they were going to the playoffs. Troy felt happiness beyond all other as he congratulated the rest of the team, except the seniors who wouldn't touch him because he was a sophomore who played better than them. As he tried not to get offended, Troy ran over to his father's embrace._

"_You played incredible!" Coach Bolton exclaims and let's Troy go. Troy felt like his face could fall off he was so happy. _

"_Thanks Dad!" He says and his father gave him one last smile before turning around and shaking hands with the other coach. He turned around to find his best friend smiling at him in his warm ups still._

"_Holy Shit Troy!" Chad exclaimed as they hugged, both ecstatic. "That was incredible man!" He smiled in thanks and Troy felt a light tap on his shoulder and he quickly turned around. Standing in front of him was a cheerleader with long blond straight hair and bright green eyes beaming at him. He smiled and picked her up into a hug spinning her around. Chad rolled his eyes and walked away leaving the two alone. Once Troy put the thin girl down and quickly grabbed her face to pull her in for a kiss. Sparks shot through his body and once they let go, she opened her eyes and smiled up at him._

"_You played amazing hotshot!" She said and began to play with his jersey. Troy looked up to find the rest of his team was starting to head into the locker-room. He smiled at her and kissed her once again._

"_Thanks, Mad. I gotta go, but I'm going with you to the after party right?" He asked and the girl gave him a quick kiss._

"_Of course silly. Meet me in here when you're done." She said and he ran after the rest of his teammates. Once inside the locker room, Troy heard yelling and cheers of joy. He ran up to his best friend who was taking his warm-up pants off._

"_Oh God, I can't get over that game! Man I wish I could have been playing." Chad said looking down and Troy smiled at him. Chad, along with Zeke and Jason, were on the JV team but also suited up for varsity, just in case. Troy was the only sophomore that actually played on the team. He pats his best friend on the back and smiles._

"_Hey, maybe you'll play in the playoffs! You know my dad is always looking for fresh people." Troy said optimistically and Chad smiled. Just then, Dan came over by where Troy and Chad were standing and smiled._

"_Bolton, Danforth, I talked to Cross and Baylor and they both need a ride to the party, what about you guys?" He asked with a smile on his face and Chad nods._

"_Yea, I do." Chad said slightly embarrassed that even though he was sixteen, he still didn't have a car yet. Troy on the other hand shook his head. Even though he was sixteen and didn't have a car, he still wasn't going to take the offer that was just given to him._

"_Nah. Madison's driving me over. But thanks anyways." Dan nodded his head in understanding and turns around. Troy felt Chad's eyes on him so he turned around to face his best friend._

"_Damn you for dating a junior." Chad said and Troy felt himself smile. Madison and he had been dating for about six months now and he was felt somewhat powerful that he was dating someone older. They met last year during basketball season because she was a cheerleader and he had always had a crush on her. And soon, he had found himself dating her. "So how is she anyways? You haven't really talked about her since you told me about…"_

_Troy threw his hands up on Chad's mouth and covered it. "Don't say it. I don't want anyone to find out ok?" He whispered and Chad nodded. He let go of his mouth and finally zipped up the bag that was sitting on the bench. "I'll meet up with you at the party alright?" Chad nodded and Troy walked out the locker room door. Mostly everyone had left the field house except for the cheerleading squad who was all talking happily in the middle of the gym. Troy smiled as he walked over to the blond he was so used to and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind._

"_Hey hotshot." She mumbled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Troy smiled and removed his arms to find her talking to a slightly shorter girl who was a brunette with highlights and another blond, who he both recognized as girls in his grade._

"_Hey gorgeous." He said back and then looked at the other two girls again. "Hey Mandy. Hi Bridget. You guys preformed great tonight."_

"_Thanks Troy." Mandy said smiling._

"_You played amazing Troy. I couldn't keep my eyes off you." Bridget said flirtatiously and Troy looked over to find that Madison hadn't responded to this. Troy found this a bit strange, because usually, Madison was one to show everyone that she had Troy, but she acted as though she didn't even hear the comment._

"_You ready to go?" She asked and Troy nodded, took her hand and watched as Madison waved to all the girls' goodbye. "See you guys at the party!" They walked out of the gym and up the stairs that lead to the entrance. Once outside, Madison led Troy to her expensive car and Troy hopped in the passenger's side. The whole ride was silent as Troy stared out the window. He was thinking about exactly a week ago and scrunched his nose. Did he make the right choice? Was Madison really into him? Troy knew he didn't love her, but he really liked her. Did he make a mistake? Troy felt the car stop but he continued to stare out the window. The house they were at was a junior's whose parents were out of town on vacation. A perfect spot for a party. "Come on Troy." Madison said shaking his shoulder snapping him out of his trance._

"_What? Oh, sorry." He said and rubbed the back of his neck._

_Madison sighed annoyingly. "What is it Bolton? You guys are going to the playoffs and you look like that's the last thing that's on your mind."_

"_Sorry." Troy mumbled and shook his head. "I'm just thinking about last week."_

_Madison rolled her eyes and opened the car door. "Don't think about it Troy. Unless you don't want it to happen again." She said as she got up and slammed the door. That was the million dollar question wasn't it. Did he want it to happen again?_

_Troy hopped out of the car also and walked up in sync with Madison. He reached down to grab her hand but she pulled it up to fix her hair instead. Troy rolled his eyes as he opened the door to the house for her and she walked inside without a comment. The music was already blaring in Troy's ears and all of the lights were out. People looked over and gave Troy a wave or a pat on the back or something. He smiled and suddenly Madison was at his hip again, draping her body all over her boyfriend. Troy looked up to see Chad standing with Zeke and a couple of juniors and waved to him. "I'm gonna go by Chad alright?" He said to Madison and she shook her head._

"_No, you're gonna come with me to get something to drink first." She said and Troy rolled his eyes. She had become extremely demanding ever since last week Friday and Troy was starting to get annoyed. He held up a finger to Chad saying he'd be there in a minute and followed his girlfriend over to where everything was. Madison grabbed a bottle of orange juice and poured a large amount into a red cup and poured another glass for Troy. She then grabbed the clear bottle of vodka and poured some in both of their glasses. Troy took it hesitantly and she smiled at him. "You can go by Chad now." She said and drank the alcohol quickly and then poured another glass. Troy rolled his eyes and walked over to where Chad was standing._

"_Hey man." He said and Chad greeted him back as they did their little guy handshake thing. Troy took a sip of the drink and shook his head. He finished the glass and threw it in the garbage, not wanting anymore. Troy walked back over to find two seniors, Greg and Jeff were standing with Chad now. Oh great, just what Troy needed._

"_Baby Bolton!" Greg exclaims and "playfully" punched Troy, even though it was a lot harder that a playful punch. "Enjoying the party?"_

'_No' Troy thought and then shrugged. "Yea, it's alright."_

_Greg smiles mockingly. "So is it your FIRST high school party?" Troy narrowed his eyes. He knew that all they were trying to do was get a reaction out of him because they were jealous that Troy was better than them. Troy shook his head._

"_No Greg, it's not. But congrats on YOUR first high school party." Troy smirked and watched as Greg took a step forward threatingly but Jeff, being the nicer of the two, placed a hand on his shoulder._

"_Dude, don't." Jeff responded and Greg rolled his eyes. They both shoved past Troy who was rolling his eyes. He knew he was better and he didn't have to prove it to any of them. Suddenly, two girls, both sophomore cheerleaders, walk up to Troy and Chad and the rest of the guys. They smiled and waved._

"_Hey guys." Mandy greeted and both guys smiled. "There's a lot of people here."_

_Chad nodded and looked at the other girl standing next to her, Shannon. Troy rolled his eyes. Shannon was Chad's crush of the week this week and Troy shook his head. "Yea I know." Chad responded, still smiling at Shannon. "It's like the whole school showed up, except for like the brainiacs, but no one wants them here anyways."_

_Troy rolled his eyes again. He knew his best friend was referring to this girl Taylor McKessie. The two were always aguring with each other in class and Troy found it rather hilarious. They couldn't stand each other. "So Troy." Shannon started breaking Troy out of his thought. "Where's Madison? I haven't seen her all night."_

_Troy looked up at all the people and sighed. He had no idea where Madison was, not that he cared much. Sure he liked her, but he was getting extremely sick of her always being demanding. Did he want to break up with her? Of course not, especially not after last week Friday. He still really liked her, but they just needed some time away from each other. "No idea." He responded. "I should probably go look for her though." Troy thought out loud. Madison was an extremely heavy drinker and Troy was usually there to comfort her when she was throwing up. He smiled at all of them and waved. "I'll see you guys later."_

_Troy moved away from his friends and searched the entire first floor. He couldn't find her anywhere. After asking about three of her friends, they all had said that they had also not seen her since she arrived with Troy. He sighed and figured she might have gone upstairs to lie down or was in the bathroom or something. He climbed up the stairs and walked into the bathroom, finding it empty. Then Troy went up to one bedroom door that was closed and opened it._

"_GET OUT!" He heard a girl yell before he even opened the door any further. Knowing it wasn't Madison's voice; Troy then shut the door and went to the next one. He knocked first this time, and when he didn't get an answer, he turned the knob and opened the door. _

_Troy took a step further and felt his stomach drop to the floor. On the bed in the middle of his room, was the senior Jeff with out a shirt on, kissing the neck of his own girlfriend, who was just wearing a pink bra with matching panties. The two broke apart at the sound of the door opening and Madison's eyes grew huge. She pushed Jeff off and grabbed her pants that were lying on the floor. Troy stood there stupidly, not being able to feel his legs. He finally turned around when he heard a "Troy! Troy stop!" He didn't. Taking two steps at a time, Troy ran down the stairs and tried to make his way through the crowd. Once he finally did, he reached the door and opened it and walked angrily outside. How could she do this to him? "Troy! Stop please!"_

_Troy wiped his body around to find Madison standing there, fully clothed again, and looked up into his now piercing eyes. He felt anger beyond all belief and felt his blood starting to boil. "No Madison."_

"_Troy please let me explain." She pleaded and tried to grab his arm but he forcefully moved it so she couldn't. _

"_How could you do this?" He asked angrily and Madison put her head down. "After last week Friday, how could you do this to me? Was I not GOOD enough for you or something?" He asked feeling the anger rush through his veins. He was beyond mad. It was hard to describe what Troy WAS feeling right now._

"_Troy, it's not that. It's just, well…" She started and looked up at him with dry eyes which made him even madder. Troy felt the tears well up his in his own eyes but looked back into hers who didn't even look like she was sad. "You're a sophomore Troy. I needed to be with someone older tonight. I guess I've felt that way for awhile."_

_Troy clenched his jaw even further. "Then why the hell did Friday happen if you've been thinking about it for awhile?" He yelled and Madison shrugged._

"_I thought maybe you'd seem older to me then. But you don't. Troy, I still want to be with you, but I think we should maybe just have an open relationship for awhile. You know, see if we're really what the other wants." Troy felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. He wasn't even mad that she cheated on him. His mind was just spinning about what happened last Friday._

"_No Madison. If you don't want just me, then you don't want me at all." Troy said and shook his head. "It's over."_

_She scrunched her eyebrows as if confused and then shrugged. "Whatever Troy, it's your loss, but you'll be crawling back to me in no time." She said and turned around to walk back into the house. Troy glared at her angrily. Suddenly, another figured staggered up behind him and smirked._

"_Aww, did Baby Bolton fight with his girlfriend?" Greg mocked and Troy felt his fist clentch. Now wasn't the time. He was so angry about how Madison played him that he didn't want to deal with Greg now._

"_Shut up Greg." Troy spit out and could actually feel his eyes turn from the soft blue they normally were to a piercing ice. Greg smirked at him._

"_Well, I guess she's onto bigger and better things now. I bet she didn't like how you were too much of a baby to give her what she wanted." With that comment, Troy spun around and raised his fist. He threw it at Greg's jaw and watched it connect. Troy's eyes grew wide. He had never gotten into a fight with anyone, but it was letting his anger out. He liked it. "You're gonna pay for that." Greg spit out blood and charged at Troy, throwing him to the ground. Troy managed to flip Greg over so he was on top and punched him in the jaw again. Greg, being the bigger of the two, flipped Troy over once again and pinned him down, punching him in the stomach. Suddenly, Greg's weight was ripped off Troy and Troy was brought to his feet and looked behind him to see Chad holding him back. Troy started to struggle, wanting to cause Greg more pain because it was better that someone else was in pain besides himself._

"_You're just pissed that I could run fucking circles around you on the court." Troy yelled getting the wind back into him after Greg had knocked it out of him. Greg snickered and shook his head._

"_You're gonna get it Bolton." Grey yelled back and Troy smirked, still feeling his eyes remained the piercing color._

"_Come on then." Troy egged him on and Chad forcefully dragged Troy backward. "Chad let go."_

"_Hell no." Chad responded and continued to drag him until he reached the coner. "Troy are you stupid? Why the hell would you get into a fight with a senior over being starting varsity?!"_

_Troy looked at him and shook his head. He wasn't going to tell Chad about Madison, no way. But Troy knew one thing, he wasn't going to let anyone take advantage of him again. There was no way in hell. He was pissed because Madison didn't even seem to care. Well, he was going to make her care, and make everyone else care. Because he found out tonight that if he put the pain onto someone else, then it felt a hell of a lot better than the pain being on himself. Troy looked down and made himself a promise that would carry on in through his senior year. 'Whenever someone takes advantage of me again, I just gotta show them the wrath of Troy Bolton. Because they need to feel the same pain that I feel now." That was the thing; Troy wasn't even pissed off that Madison cheated on him. Sure, it hurt a little because he liked her, but she that wasn't even why he was mad. Troy was furious for another reason. Madison took something from Troy that he would never get back. Troy looked up at Chad once more with piercing eyes. Madison had cheated on Troy a week after Troy lost his virginity to her._

Troy opens his eyes letting the memory fade away. This was the reason Troy acted the way he did. Because after getting into the fight with Greg, he found that making other people be in pain made him feel powerful. He felt like he was in control when he was the jackass most people didn't know about him. About a month after that party, Troy finally started to act normal again because they had gotten to the final round of the playoffs before the championship. Troy and Madison hadn't talked since and he had finally gotten over her. He then had realized he didn't even like her that much, but still felt anger toward her. It was the only time he had ever had sex and he wished that he could take it back. Because now that he knew was love really was, he wished that he could give it to someone else. Troy had been hesitant to give it up to Madison that fateful night, but he knew that even though he was incredibly pissed at her, he would have given it up to Gabriella in a heartbeat.

Suddenly, Troy's phone rings "Get'cha Head in the Game" and he looks down at the caller id and smirks a little. "Hey Chad, what's up?"

"Hey Troy. We're all going out for pizza tonight. You coming?"

Troy narrows his eyes a little. "Is SHE gonna be there?" Troy says as though Gabriella's name was a swear word, even though he knew deep down that it was the furthest from that. Chad sighs on the other end.

"Dude, first, her name isn't SHE, it's Gabriella so don't be stupid. And second, yes she's going but that shouldn't change your mind because you're gonna have to forgive her eventually."

Troy rolls his eyes. He would go anyways, partially because he hadn't asked Chloe to homecoming yet and he had to do it soon otherwise she would get a date as well. "Fine, I'll go. But your wrong, I don't have to forgive her."

"Whatever man. I'll see ya at 7." Chad says and Troy could hear how his voice was annoyed.

"Later." Troy says and hangs up the phone. Screw Chad. Gabriella played with Troy, making him believe she wanted to go with him. She asked for this Troy and now she's getting him. There was nothing anyone could do to change his mind. This was who Troy was now and if they didn't like it, they could go screw themselves.


	21. Fights and Pizza

Troy locks up his truck and looks up at the pizza place. He feels himself get the slight chills, even though it was sixty degrees and he had a grey zip up sweatshirt on over his plain white t-shirt on. The pizza place was in the middle of town, and everyone knew it was on the dividing line between East High and West High district. This made it fun and scary, because on some Friday nights, both basketball teams would go there to celebrate their victories. This caused some tension. Troy did have some friends from middle school at West, and then again he had some enemies as well. He sighs and walks up into the restaurant to find everyone was already sitting down at a square table. Troy walks over to where everyone else was sitting and doesn't even bother to smile.

"Troy!" Ryan exclaims and everyone looks up at him yelling the same thing Ryan did. He smirks and waves at all of them, trying to avoid looking at Gabriella. An empty spot in between to Chad and Sharpay must have been saved for him. He noticed that Gabriella was two people down, sitting next to Taylor who was of course, sitting next to Chad. Troy sits down in his seat.

"We weren't sure what you wanted, but we ordered a pepperoni and cheese, one with the works, and a sausage one." Kelsi informed him and Troy shrugged.

"That's fine. I'm really not overly hungry anyways." Troy comments and grabs the big pitcher of soda in the center of the table and pours a glass for himself. He noticed how they were all of the sudden a little more quiet than when Troy had first walked in. Just guessing, Troy figures they were probably talking about his behavior lately. He didn't care though. They could talk about him all they wanted and he wouldn't care.

"So wasn't the football game against Slinger amazing last night?" Zeke says, probably trying to get rid of the awkward silence that arrived when Troy did. As the rest of the group becomes excited, he suddenly feels a pair of eyes on him. 'Don't look up Bolton, don't be weak.' He thinks to himself as he can almost feel Gabriella's eyes burn a hole into the side of his head. Troy looks in the opposite direction to try and shake them off, but finds he is unsuccessful.

About ten minutes later, the pizza arrives and everyone stares at it hungrily, except for Troy. He was still trying to avoid Gabriella's gaze. "Oh, knowing Chad's eating habits, I think we need napkins." Chloe jokes and Chad throws a bread stick at her. "Hey!" She says as she gets up to go get them. Troy suddenly remembers what he wanted to ask her and stands up as well.

"Here, Chlo let me help you." Troy finally looks down at the brown eyes with his ice blue ones and smirks. He could see jealously there even though everyone knew that Troy and Chloe were just friends. He follows Chloe to where the napkins are and sighs, thinking it's now or never.

"You know Troy, I'm pretty sure I can handle getting napkins myself." Chloe says jokingly and Troy shrugs.

"I know, but I was afraid you might get lost or something." Troy jokes and sighs. Sure, being an asshole made him feel good. But so did joking around. Wait, no! He had to be mean. It felt better than being nice…right? Of course it did. But maybe he didn't have to be mean to Chloe. Because somehow she always made him feel better. Like a best friend should. Troy decides to add Chloe to the list of people who he wasn't going to be mean to. So that made Chad and Chloe. "Actually, I have to ask you something."

Chloe looks at him strangely for a second and then smiles. "Okay. Shoot."

Troy sighs and smiles at her, knowing that he was making a right choice. "Okay. Since you don't have a date, and I don't have a date. Would you like to go to homecoming with me? Just as friends, but it could be fun."

Chloe smiles up at him and nods. "I would love to go to homecoming with you Troy."

Troy smiles a real smile for the fist time in a long time and gives her a hug. If Gabriella was going to be all over Nate that night, they why couldn't he have fun with a friend? He lets go and looks down at her. "Good. So, what color's your dress? I gotta match you don't I?"

Chloe giggles a little a grabs a bunch of napkins. "Well I guess you have to. It's royal blue. So I trust you to find something that matches." Troy nods. "Oh, and Troy? Look, I'm sorry for what happened with Gabriella, but please just know that she never meant to hurt you. She's hurting just as bad as you."

Yeah, right. Troy sighs and shakes his head. "Look, what's going on with that is between me and her. I really don't want to talk about it." He says and sighs. "But I think we should go tell the gang that we officially have dates."

They walk back over to the table. Chloe throws Chad the napkins and smiles. "We have an announcement to make!" She says and Troy smiles once again, but suddenly it turns back into a smirk when he makes eye contact with Gabriella who was looking up at him.

"I asked her to homecoming. And she said yes." Troy says and puts a friendly arm around her. But his eyes remain on Gabriella as he watches her eyes quickly throw a hint of jealousy. Good, because if she wasn't being stupid and going with Nate, she could have had him. But obviously, Nate means so much more to her than he does. Troy tears his eyes away from her and watches as every smiles and nods.

They all say congratulations to the two. "Good, we were starting to think you guys would never get dates." Chad says and suddenly the table becomes quiet again Troy and Gabriella's eyes connect with each other and he can feel the ice piercing into her. She bites her bottom lip, a habit he knew she did when she was nervous and Troy's eyes narrow once again. "Why don't we eat?" Chad says, probably trying to take the tension off the two and everyone starts to eat the pizza.

About forty minutes later, Troy and Gabriella's eyes never left each, even when they were eating. He continues to give her a cold stare while she looks like she's trying to apologize with her eyes. Troy smirks a little. If Gabriella was in this state, then he was going to mess with her. He could almost feel the bastard part of him seeping out through his pores.

"So… where's your boyfriend?" Troy asks while keeping eye contact with her. The entire table goes silent because they were all surprised that Troy actually said something to Gabriella. She looked just as surprised that he said something to her also.

"I don't have a boyfriend Troy." Gabriella says in a scared voice and Troy smirks at this, He had total control over her now and he knew he could use it to his advantage.

"Ok, I'm sorry. Where's your _future_ boyfriend? I would have thought that he wouldn't leave your side." Troy said with edge. He knew he was picking a scab but it just felt so damn good to be a bastard.

"Troy, stop it." Taylor says and places a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.

"What? Can't a guy ask a single question? I'm just curious about her life." Troy states with his smirk and Chad shakes his head at him.

"Dude, you're acting like an asshole. Stop." Chad states and Troy narrows his eyes at him.

He feels every single eye on him and it made him feel powerful. "I just want to know about the happy couple!" Troy exclaims standing up and Gabriella finally gets the angry look Troy was trying to find on her.

"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE TROY! Stop doing this!" She spits out and Troy's eyes narrow once again,

"Doing what?" He asks innocently, trying to draw more of a reaction out of her.

"Acting like Nate and I are getting married! We're going to a dance Troy!" The whole restaurant was silent and everyone was staring at them. "I'm sorry God damn it!"

They stared at each other for a moment, and Troy wasn't sure what to say. She had just said sorry. But Troy couldn't forgive her, no way. She led him on and now she was going to have to pay for it. She asked for it the moment she said yes to Nate. The door to the pizza place suddenly opens and Troy looks over to see three guys walking in. They each had a blue and gold letterman's jacket on and they walk in and the one in the middle smirks at Troy. "Well, well, well, look what we have here?"

Troy's mind was suddenly wiped clean of everything as he stared at the three guys. Chad stands up with Troy and Jason and Zeke follow soon after. Troy looks over to find Gabriella was still standing but no longer looked angry. Instead, confusion was placed onto her face and Troy, suddenly forgetting everything that had happened in the past two weeks, shoots her a look as if to tell her to sit down. She nods and sits, but still looks just as confused. Chad's eyes narrow along with Troy's as they stare down the three. "Trent."

The center guy, kept his eyes on Troy. He smirks and ignores Chad. "Well, Bolton, don't you think you're stepping out of bounds?"

Troy narrows his eyes even further, feeling the ice coming from his eyes pierce into the tall blond standing in front of the other two boys. "You know as well as me this is our turf too, Brad." Brad Trent was the captain of the West High basketball team. The two guys next to him were Jake and Nick. Jake, Troy and Chad had been inseparable in middle school and they were still friends. Nick, on the other hand, had always been Brad's right hand man and hated East High as much as Brad did. Jake places a hand on Brad's shoulder and shakes his head.

"Dude, just leave them alone." He says and both Troy and Chad give him a small smile, but then return their glares back to the captain.

"So Bolton…" He starts to walk toward Troy and Troy felt himself grip the chair to keep him from saying or doing something stupid. "I hear you're holding preseason practices. That scared that we're gonna crush you this year?"

"Oh, uh Brad, remind me…who beat you in the championship last season?" Chad says mockingly and Brad glares at him, then returns his smirk to Troy.

"That's not gonna happen this year. Coach isn't gonna let that happen again. What is Daddy gonna do to help you guys?" Brad mocks and Troy feels the grip on his chair get tighter. Suddenly, he sees Gabriella get up and stare at Troy. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, how does it feel to only wear the captain sign because your daddy picked you?"

Troy feels himself step forward threateningly and then feels another hand on his shoulder. Still forgetting he was pissed off at her, he looks down at Gabriella who was staring up at him. "Let's just go ok?" She suggests and Troy sighs. Still forgetting he was pissed at her, he nods and looks to everyone else. "Let's go guys."

Everyone nods and stands up, since they had already put the money on the table. Brad smirks at Troy again. "Oh, so you're listening to other people's advice now? Can't make your own decisions? Although…" Brad smiles and takes a step forward, looking Gabriella up and down in the process. "I'd listen to a hot bitch like that any day." He says with a wink.

Troy suddenly looses it. He takes four steps forward then feels Gabriella throw and arm out in front of him. "Troy stop, he's not worth it. Let's get out of here." Troy looks around to find that everyone was now standing outside, fleeing from the scene except for Chad, Taylor, Gabriella and him. Gabriella grabs his arm and begins to lead him out the door.

"Hey bitch!" Brad yells and Gabriella turns to look at him with disgust on her face. Troy smirks at little, proud of her evil glare. "When you get bored of little virgin Baby Bolton, you can come fuck with me anytime."

With that, Troy feels the anger release from his body and he throw Gabriella's arm off. Troy grabs Brad by the shirt and throws him outside, watching him stubble a little from shock. Troy then charges after him and punches him square in the jaw. Brad backs up a little, then goes after Troy pinning him against the pizza place's brick wall. "What now Bolton?" Brad mocks and Troy tries to shrug him off.

"STOP IT!" He hears Gabriella scream off in the distance but he wasn't paying attention. Brad punches him in the stomach and knocks the wind out of Troy. He suddenly feels like he's having déjà vu from the night that he and Madison broke up. Troy grabs his stomach with one hand and punches Brad with the other. Brad steps backward again and Troy throws a punch in his face that would probably give him a black eye. "TROY STOP!" He hears Gabriella again but ignores it. Brad comes up again spitting out blood and hits Troy in the side of the face. He steps back and spits out the warm liquid in his mouth. He goes to punch Brad again but he feels two strong hands hold him back. He looks up to find that Jake was holding Brad back and he looked behind him to see Chad holding Troy back.

"Let go!" Troy yells and struggles to break free. Finally, he stops and sighs. "Fine." Chad slowly loosens his grip on Troy who takes a step to the side, as Jake slowly lets go of Brad.

"Let's get out of here Brad." Nick states and Jake looks at Chad and Troy.

"Sorry guys." He says and turns around. Brad smirks a little and walks up into Troy's face, which doesn't flinch. Chad places a hand on Troy's shoulder but he shakes his head and Chad removes it.

"See you on the court Bolton." He states and quickly punches Troy in the gut again. Troy sinks to his knees and hears a soft "Troy!" come from Gabriella who he then feels is kneeling down next to him. He looks up to see Brad smirking and then leaves with the other two. Troy then moans in pain and feels Gabriella grab his shoulder.

"Let me help." She says and Troy, still having forgotten his anger at her, looks up at her with the soft eyes he usually has and nods. He doesn't take his eyes off Gabriella, but he feels everyone else's presence surround him. Chad places another hand on his shoulder and he winces in pain. Gabriella kneels in front of him and looks up into his eyes. "Troy that was stupid."

Troy closes his eyes in pain and nods. "I know, but I couldn't let him get away saying that about you."

She looks up into his eyes once again and smiles a little. She, unlike Troy, was completely aware of what had happened all week and was suddenly hopeful that he had finally forgiven her.

"Guys, let's give him some room." Chad says and he looks up to watch everyone back up slowly, but still around so they could see what was happening.

"Still, Troy you shouldn't have gotten into a fight over me, your hurt." She says and Troy shakes his head.

"It doesn't matter. I'm fine." He says and tries to stand up but winces in pain and she softly smiles at him once again. Her hands come down to lower him again.

"You don't look fine." She says. "Please, let me help." He closes his soft blue eyes and then opens them again and nods.

Troy watches as her hands slip off his grey hoodie which now had speckles of red. She then grabs the bottom of his shirt and lifts it over his head, Troy moaning in pain the whole time. Troy looks down to find that on his perfect six pack, a huge black and blue mark was already starting to form. "Oh Troy." Gabriella releases and then touches his bare shoulder. She softly runs her hand down over his bare chest and Troy suddenly gets the chills. "Gabi." He moans but instead of it being from the pain, it was from Gabriella's fingers. She stops right above his abs and he closes his eyes. He feels her fingers slip lower and lower.

Suddenly, she touches the bruise and Troy's eyes snap open. Every hint of pain, every memory from this week rushes back into his body. His eyes immediately turn back to ice and he slaps Gabriella's hand away and jumps off his kneel to stand. Her eyes grow wide with his and he reaches down to grab the sweatshirt and white t-shirt and slowly backs up. "No." He says and Gabriella gets off her knees also and walks toward him.

"Troy!" She yells and reaches out her hand. Even though his stomach was killing him, he still continues to back up away from her.

"Don't touch me!" He says and runs his fingers through his hair. "I can't do this." He whispers once again and shakes his head. "Just go back to Nate Gabriella." He says and turns around. Throwing his shirt back on. He looks at all of his friends who were staring at the two in horror probably because Troy's actions just took a drastic turn for the worse. He walks right through Kelsi and Zeke who immediately got out of his way and started for his car. His body was aching but he had to get away before he let his wall down again. He heard footsteps running behind him.

"I DON'T WANT NATE, TROY!" She screams and Troy starts to jog to his truck. He couldn't listen to her now. He didn't want her to change his mind about anything. He wasn't weak, he couldn't be. Gabriella had just played with him back there and he wasn't going to do that again. She was lying to him now too; he knew she really did want Nate. He was more scared about his actions than angry and he had to get away from her as soon as he could.

"GO TO HELL GABRIELLA!" He yells back and then hops in the white truck, looking back once more to see Gabriella on her knees sobbing once again.

Troy suddenly feels the hot tears streaming down his own face. He promised himself that he wouldn't let Gabriella take advantage of him again and he just let her walk all over him. About fifteen minutes later, he arrived at his house and parked the truck. Troy turns off the car and suddenly places his head on the steering wheel, letting his sobs escape, knowing that Gabriella was probably doing the exact same thing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter was short but I hope you guys liked it because I really liked writing it. And since you guys have been so patient and great, I hope you liked the little Troyella fluff in there. Oh, and I hope you noticed Brad's initials are Troy's in reverse. Just something I'd add in there. Thanks for reading and reviews are great! 


	22. Spirit Week

Gabriella looked down at the clothes that she had laid on the floor. It was Thursday night two days before homecoming, and every day for the past week the whole school had dressed up for a theme. Since it was the big game tomorrow, the whole school dressed up in spirit wear. She looks down at the same outfit that she had worn for the first game football game and sighs, falling onto her bed. It had been an extremely long week, and she was dreading this weekend more than anything. Memories of the past five days suddenly surround her as she closes her eyes…

_Monday: Class Color Day_

_Gabriella walked in with her arms crossed and slowly made her way to her locker. She heard a few whistles and felt herself become even more self conscious. She turned the corner to find that Taylor and Sharpay were standing by their lockers and Gabriella walked over and both girls mouths dropped. "Holy shit Gabs!" Taylor said and stumbled in her high heels as she ran over to her best friend. Sharpay's eyes were wide as she walked smoothly in her own extremely tall high heels over to her best friend._

"_I knew it was too much!" Gabriella said and grabbed her sweatshirt that she brought in case of this emergency and was about to put it on when Sharpay grabbed her hands._

"_Hun, stop. It's not too much, it's perfect. It will make Troy look at you AND it will make him jealous because everyone else will be too, well except when they're not looking at me!" Sharpay said and stroke a pose. Gabriella and Taylor both rolled their eyes and shake their heads at the blonde's self-centeredness. Gabriella looked at her best friend with pleading eyes, wanting her to tell her the truth instead._

"_Be honest, is this too slutty?" Gabriella took the sweatshirt away from her chest to expose her whole outfit. The day was class color day, the freshman had white, the sophomores were green, the juniors were blue, and the seniors were black. Of course, it was all the guy's favorite day because it was also known as "senior slut day". All of the senior girls would dress up in all black, but all of them looked like sluts. Gabriella looked down at her outfit to see her high black leather boots. Black fish nets were tight against her legs and her skirt was leather and black that was so short she kept trying to pull it down. She was wearing a tight black spaghetti strapped tank top and her hair was down and in loose curls. She was wearing heavy black make up which completed the outfit. She looked at the other two, who were dressed similar, except not as scandalous as herself and Sharpay's outfit was covered in glitter. Taylor smirked and shook her head._

"_No. As much as I hate to say it, Sharpay's right. After the incident on Saturday, you want Troy to want you back as much as possible by not talking to him. And this will defiantly catch his attention." Taylor looked over Gabriella's shoulder and smiled. "Actually, we'll find out right now."_

_Gabriella turned around quickly to find Chad, Zeke, Jason, and Troy all walking toward them. Gabriella found herself staring at Troy, who had on black soccer socks, black tennis shoes, black basketball shorts, a black wife beater, a black bandana tied around his head so you couldn't see his hair, and he had black smudges right under his eyes. But she watched as he looked up and watched his mouth literally drop. His eyes grew wide as he stared at her and the four boys finally stopped in front of the three girls. "Baby, dress like that everyday." Chad says pulling Taylor into a hug and then kissed her. She blushed and then Chad turned his head toward Gabriella, his eyes huge. "Shit Montez, you look… you look…"_

"_Watch your words Chad." Taylor warned and Chad shook his head._

"_Very attractive if I wasn't dating this super hot smarty right here." He says and Gabriella giggles a little. She looked up at Troy again with hurt eyes since this was the first time seeing him after the fight and found that he was still staring at her with wide eyes, but quickly looked away when she looked up. She sighed knowing that she couldn't talk to him because she knew he didn't want to talk to her at all. He made that clear on Saturday night and Gabriella made the decision that she wasn't going to try and talk to him at all. But he was making it extremely hard right now since that was all she wanted to do._

_Suddenly, Gabriella heard a soft _whip _and she turned her head to find Troy suddenly rubbing his arm and Bridget smirking as she stood with Gretchen and Jackie. She was holding a long whip in her hands and her outfit was worse that Gabriella's. She was wearing high boots with fishnets also and an extremely short skirt that barely covered her butt. On top, she was wearing a sparkling black swimsuit and her hair was half up. She had fishnets on her arms too. To sum it all up, she looked like she just walked out of a strip club. She smirked as she looked at Troy up and down. "You're looking fine today Bolton."_

_Troy scratched the back of his neck and smiled weakly at her. But then, Gabriella figured he probably remembered that he was supposed to be bad ass and smirks. "Thanks. You look pretty hot too." He said and Gabriella narrowed her eyes. Troy glanced at her and smirked, and she knew that she must have shown the jealousy in her eyes. _

"_Thanks. I'll see ya in physics." She said and Gabriella watched in horror and as she grabbed his arm and kissed him on the cheek. Gabriella could feel Taylor's hand on her shoulder, probably keeping her in place because what she really wanted was to rip Bridget's insides out. Bridget gave Gabriella a small smirk and then walked away with her two friends. Gabriella knew that Bridget would later get yelled at by a teacher for her outfit and felt herself trying to keep herself calm._

"_What the hell was that?" Chad asked while he hit Troy in the back of the head. _

"_Oww. What was what?" Troy asked innocently but Gabriella knew he was well aware of what Chad was talking about._

"'_Oh, Bridget you look pretty hot.'" Chad mocked and shook his head. "Dude, so does an oven but you don't put your hand on it cuz it will burn you."_

_Troy shook his head. "Dude, I'm aloud to flirt with… wait, did you just compare her to an oven?" Troy said confused and if Gabriella was extremely pissed off, she might have laughed._

"_Dude, not the point. She's a bitch and you know it so stay away from her!" Chad exclaims pointing in the direction that Bridget when and Gabriella secretly thanked Chad in her head.

* * *

_

_Tuesday: Superhero day_

_Gabriella closed her locker at the end of the day and sighed. She was Wonder Woman, along with about half of the other girls in the school. She grabbed her bag on the floor and started walking toward the door. Troy and her hadn't talked all day again but Troy decided it would be fun to flirt with every girl right in front of Gabriella. She was getting extremely irritated with him and her sadness over him was starting to turn into anger. If he really liked her so much, then why was it his goal in life to make hers a living hell?_

_Gabriella turned the corner almost to run into someone else. She slipped a little because her costume shoes were slippery but two strong arms grabbed her and held her up. "Whoa, are you ok Gabs?"_

_Gabriella looked up into a pair of green eyes and smiled. She really hadn't talked to Nate all week and was finally happy to see someone who was happy to see her back. "Yea, I'm fine."_

"_Good, listen, I have to go back to preseason practice in a second, but I had to get a Band-Aid for Jason because he cut his arm. But I hadn't seen much but and I have to ask you. What color's your dress? I need to know what kind of tie to get." He asked. _

_Gabriella smiled a little. "It's gold." She said simply and Nate nods._

"_Ok, so do you think a white shirt with a black tie and black pants would work?" He asked and Gabriella nodded._

"_Yea that will be perfect." Gabriella suddenly heard a squeak of shoes and looked up to find a sweaty Troy standing in the hall._

"_Dude, what the hell? Jason's practically bleeding to death…" Troy started and then trailed off when he saw Gabriella. She looked up at him and smirked. Then she turned her attention back to Nate and lightly kissed him on the cheek. Nate beamed and Gabriella smirked even more._

"_Bye Nate." She said and walked around him. She and Troy made eye contact and he narrowed his own. She raised her eyebrows and Troy got the message that she was sending. _

"_Two can play at this game." She said with her eyes and left Troy glaring at her.

* * *

_

_Wednesday: Decade Day_

"_Man, someone please talk, it's driving me crazy!" Chad exclaims but no one moves._

_The lunch table was unusually quiet as Troy and Gabriella glared at each other. Since the seniors had the eighties, Gabriella was wearing purple spandex with a white skirt on and flats. She was wearing a light blue cut off sweatshirt and her hair was sticking up in the air. Troy, on the other hand looked like he just stepped out of the movie, "Top Gun". The ice blue eyes were piercing into Gabriella's brown and she knew that this whole week, the tension between them was growing. She could just feel that something was going to happen soon. It was just going to be who was the one to slip up and trigger the other one.

* * *

_

_Thursday: Pajama Day_

_Gabriella quickly put on her purple pajama pants and looked at Chloe. Another awkward gym class had just ended where all Gabriella could do was try to avoid Troy's glares. Chloe finished putting on her cami and they sat down on the bench. Suddenly, Bridget came around the corner and glared at Chloe._

"_Look, Roberts. I know your new here and everything, but it's been almost two months and you should know better now. I don't know how you got Troy to ask you to homecoming, but I just want you to know that you're not going to be seeing him at the dance because he'll be with me." She said cockily and Chloe rolled her eyes._

"_Ok Bridget… I'll try to remember that." Chloe says sarcastically and Bridget takes a step forward._

"_Whatever, but I'll laugh when I see you crying in a corner because Troy ditched you for me." She said snottily and Chloe rolled her eyes._

"_Whatever you say Bridget." She said. Gabriella rolled her eyes at the girl and Chloe sighed. "But at least I don't pretend that people are going with me when they're really not."_

_Bridget pretended to look confused but Gabriella knew better. "I don't know what you are talking about."_

"_Oh yea, right. 'HE ASKED ME!' Does that ring a bell to you?" Chloe said boldly and Gabriella was seriously afraid that the two girls were going to get into a fight right in the middle of the locker room._

"_Maybe if Gabriella wasn't so stupid, she wouldn't jumped to conclusions, would you have _Gabi_?" She draws out Troy's nickname for her and Gabriella could feel anger running through her body "Or maybe if that was the case, Troy wouldn't hate you right now and be begging for me." Bridget grinned an evil grin._

_Gabriella felt herself stand up and take a step toward the girl. Chloe places a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "First of all, it's Gabriella. You do NOT call me Gabi, you got that? And secondly, you're half the reason I'm in the hell so don't start with me." She said forcefully and Bridget gave an innocent smile._

"_I don't know what you mean." She said but Gabriella shook her head._

"_Don't pull the innocent shit. You purposefully made it seem like Troy asked you and then told Nate he did so Nate would ask me and I would say yes. Well guess what Bridget? You didn't get him anyways because he's going with one of my best friends, so shut the hell up!" She yelled and Bridget shakes her head and stormed away. Gabriella, a little shocked that that actually came out of her mouth, sat down to took a deep breath. _

"_You know, she's wrong, but I really hope Troy does ditch me at the dance." She said after a moment and Gabriella looked at her confused._

"_Why would you want that?" Gabriella asked and Chloe gave her a small smile._

"_Because I hope he's with you at the end of the night."_

Gabriella opens her eyes again to see the white ceiling above her. She was still upset over Troy not talking to her, but ever since the fight with Brad, she was also pissed. Sure, what she did was awful, but Troy was overreacting. It was an honest mistake, and yes, she still felt guilty, but now Troy was just acting like a four year old.

She sighs. Gabriella knew that something was going to happen before the dance. The tension was building too much all this week for nothing to happen. She knew it was either going to be at the dance, so sometime tomorrow. But she knew it had to happen for them to move on and get past this. Because Gabriella realized on Saturday that the only way to get through to Troy Bolton was to fight with him.

"Ella?" She hears a soft voice enter her room and Gabriella looks up to find her mom standing in the doorway. "Dinner's ready if you want."

Gabriella smiles slightly then shakes her head. "Thanks, Mom, but I'm really not that hungry." She says and her mother enters her room further.

"Come on honey, I made Manicotti, your favorite." She says and sits down on the bed with Gabriella. She looks at her mother and gives her a small smile. "You've barely eaten all week." Her mom comments and Gabriella sighs.

"I know I just haven't been hungry."

Her mom looks at her questionably. "Ella, everything is going to be ok." She says. Gabriella sighs as she knows that her mother knew the whole situation about her and Troy because she had told her, just like she told her everything.

"I know Mama. I just need to take a different approach to this. I need to play Troy's game."

This was true; she was going to play Troy's new game. Which meant that she had to be the first to start this. Because he wasn't going to come to her. She was going to pick a fight with him. She sighs and closes her eyes, knowing exactly what she was going to do to get herself out of this mess that she created and hopefully get Troy to finally forgive her.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I know this chapter sucks, because it's a filler and I needed to show the tension that is now between the two. So, thanks for reading and reviews are amazing! And by the way, I know that A LOT of people are frustrated with Troy's behavior but please stick it out. It's not going to be too much longer so please, stay with me. Thanks so much! 


	23. Only Goal

Troy turned the wheel of his white truck and pulled up into the small driveway. Because he was too lazy, he beeps the horn and leans back into his seat. It had been an extremely long week and he was not looking forward to this weekend. Troy looks up to find his best friend walking out of the house and open his truck door. Chad was dressed is the same outfit that he was wearing for the final spirit day. Troy was also, he was wearing red and white basketball shorts with an "e" on the sides, and white soccer socks. He was also wearing a red bandana again that let the bangs of his chestnut hair stick out, but it was tied so it looked like a head band, so the top of his hair was showing as well. But instead of wearing the red track jersey he was before at school, Troy now had on a white long sleeve shirt that said "WILDCATS" on the front in red and his last name with the number 14 on the back since it was colder out. Chad sits down in the passengers seat. "Hey captain." He greets and Troy smiles.

"Hey Chad. You ready?" Chad nods and Troy pulls out of the driveway and makes his way on the road. They had decided to drive together once again since they were both going to the pre-homecoming party at Sharpay's, so they figured they'd save gas. Troy's mind was racing though. He knew this weekend was going to be hell. He knew he couldn't stand seeing Gabriella and Nate tomorrow night. It would tear him apart in more ways than anyone knew. But Troy also had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach about tonight. He knew that something was going to happen, he could just feel it. There had been so much tension between himself and Gabriella ever since they went out for pizza last weekend, it was going to explode pretty soon, and had the gut feeling that it was going to be tonight.

"Dude, wake up or I swear I'm getting out of the car now because I do want to live until graduation." Chad says and Troy snaps out of his trance and focuses on the road once again. After about five minutes, they arrive at the school and Troy parks his truck and gets out. "So, are you going to be an ass tonight or are you going to help me pump the crowd up?"

Troy rolls his eyes. "How about both." He suggests and Chad shakes his head.

"How about not." He responds.

"Too bad, it's not your decision." Troy says and they both start walking toward the bleachers. Once they reach the bottom, they make their way up the stairs but can tell that they were going to have a tough time getting through the crowd that was bigger than normal because it was homecoming. "How the hell are we supposed to get through this?" Troy asks as he looks back at Chad and watches Chad smile.

"Yell for me."

Troy raises his eyebrows and looks around pretending to be nervous. "Dude, you're like my brother, but I'm not screaming your name. That's Tay's job." Troy says and Chad rolls his eyes.

"No, I mean yell. Your voice will get us through faster than mine will because everyone's afraid you're gonna beat the shit out of them now." He says and Troy smirks, knowing that his best friend was right. Most people were afraid that he was going to blow up at them or beat them up, which gave him power. And this other Troy, loved power.

Troy cups his hands to his mouth. "AAAAOOOOOOO!" He screams and suddenly, the crowd on the half that he was trying to get through goes silent and looks at him. A sudden path forms and Troy assumes that they're trying to get away from him as quickly as they possibly could. He walks down with Chad at his side and doesn't make eye contact with anyone until the hit a wall of people who were cheering. Troy looks back to find that everyone had filled the hole once again and he sighs and cups his hands and yells again. The second half of the bleachers act the same way as the first and Chad and Troy finally make their way to the front row.

Chad suddenly leaves Troy's side and he rolls his eyes to find that he immediately went to Taylor. Troy stays where he is because Gabriella was standing next to Taylor, and looking extremely hot in the same outfit she wore to school that day. But he wouldn't go over there because Troy knew that the further away he stood from Gabriella, the less likely they would talk and something bad would happen again. Troy goes over and stands next to where Zeke was standing and Zeke smiles. "Hey Troy." He greets and Troy nods saying hi. The blonde holding his hand leans over.

"Hi Troy." Sharpay greets and Troy waves at her. He looks at Zeke who smiles at him and gives him a half smile. He then stands up on the bar in front of him and turns around facing the crowd.

"WHAT TEAM?" He screams and everybody looks at him. His eyes wander over to the person who he couldn't be looking at. But his stomach drops as he sees that Nate was standing next to her, looking like he was having the time of his life. But Troy's ice blue eyes pierce into Gabriella's brown to find that instead of a glare that he was getting used to seeing, there was sadness in her eyes once again. Troy tears his away from hers and looks out into the crowd once again.

"WILDCATS!" They scream back with enthusiasm.

"WHAT TEAM?" Troy shouts again and forces himself not to look at the girl who was breaking his heart and her homecoming date.

"WILDCATS!"

"WHAT TEAM?!" He drags the last part out and can't help himself. He quickly glances at Gabriella who was laughing at something that Nate had just said and Troy felt like running over there and hitting Nate as hard as he possibly could.

"WILDCATS!"

"WILDCATS!" A voice rings out that wasn't his own and Troy looks over to find that Chad was standing up on the bar as well as Troy. Troy smiles his real smile at his best friend and turns back to the crowd.

"GET'CHA HEAD IN THE GAME!" Troy yells with the rest of the basketball team and then looks over at Chad who was sliding over on the bar to him.

"Dude, why'd you start without me?" Chad asks pretending to be hurt and Troy shrugs.

"You were with your girlfriend."

Chad rolls his eyes. "You could have come over too."

Troy shakes his head. "You really think I'm gonna go over there, when SHE is over there?" Troy asks and Chad shakes his head. Troy was completely aware that they were still facing the crowd on the bar having a conversation but he really didn't care.

"Dude, homecoming's tomorrow. Just make up with her already because we all want everything to be ok." Chad says and Troy shakes his head.

"Hell no. She did this to me, and I'm not making up with her. She looks perfectly happy with Nate anyways. I guarantee they'll be going out by the end of the dance tomorrow night. But I don't want to talk about it anymore." Troy says meaning every word he just said. He figured, no, he KNEW that Gabriella and Nate would be together. And it tore him apart even more than anything else that had happened.

"Troy… come on…" Chad starts but Troy shakes his head. He looks back at the game to see that the other team, the Cobras, had the ball and were working their way toward the Wildcat's end zone.

"DEFENCE, DEFENCE!" Troy chants and claps right after. The whole crowd follows suit and after a few more chants, both Troy and Chad step down off of the bar.

They continue to stand side by side until half time when Chad goes over by Taylor once again. The whole crowd sits down for the half time show in which the cheerleaders preformed. Troy swore he saw Bridget wink at him before they turned their music on and it gave him the shivers. Sure, he had flirted with her this week but it was only because he knew it would drive Gabriella crazy and she was flirting with Nate, so he had to retaliate. But he still didn't like her and found her extremely annoying.

Suddenly, the whole crowd stands up again and the ball is kicked and the second half begins. Troy looks up at the scoreboard to find that the Wildcats were up by a touch down and he was thankful. Suddenly, he feels a soft tap on his shoulder and turns around. Staring at him was Gabriella, who had a scared but sad look in her eyes and Troy glared at her and turns back around. "Troy!"

"Didn't I say not to talk to me?!" Troy says irritated and turns around to face her once again. "Or can you not get the hint?"

"Troy, you know we need to talk." She says and Troy forcefully shakes his head.

"You know, you've now asked three fucking times if we can talk and I'm telling you the same answer. No. I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to work things out with you, and I don't want to anything to do with you anymore." He says angrily and watches as Gabriella closes her eyes. He knew none of this was true. He did want to talk to her, he wanted to work things out and he defiantly wanted a lot to do with her. But she was killing him every time she looked at him and he had to stay strong. She took advantage of him, just like Madison did and it was time for her to know how badly she hurt him.

Gabriella eyes suddenly open and Troy finds himself step back in shock. He eyes, which were so scared before, now turned hard and confident. "Too bad, because I do! I'm tired of this Troy, and I want things to be back to how they were!"

Troy narrows his eyes at her. "You decided to change that the second you said yes to Nate." He spits out coldly and Gabriella sighs.

"I thought you were going with Bridget Troy!" She exclaims and throws her hands up in the air to add the dramatic effect.

"Yeah right. You knew I didn't like her. Oh and that seems so true, since you and Nate seem to be dating now."

"We're going to a dance Troy!" She exclaims and throws her arms up in the air. "Look, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'M SORRY!" She yells at the end and shakes her head. "How many times do I have to say it? I'M SORRY GOD DAMN IT!"

Troy suddenly feels a pain in his heart but hides it. He had to be strong, and he couldn't give in. "You don't have to say it anymore, because I don't care. You can take your sorry and shove it up your ass. But then again, there might not be any room for you too, because you have so many other things shoved up there." Troy says angrily and Gabriella narrows her eyes at him.

"Well at least I'm not being a bastard to everything that breathes on this earth!" She says and Troy clutches his chest mockingly.

"Ouch, that hurt so badly." He says sarcastically. "Well, maybe if you wouldn't have led me on, I wouldn't have to act this way!"

"TROY I NEVER LED YOU ON!" She yells and Troy shakes his head.

"Oh yea, flirting non-stop with me and then deciding that you're gonna like someone else is defiantly not leading on." Troy says sarcastically once again.

"I don't like Nate!" She says forcefully and Troy shakes his head.

"Yea, right. Like I believe that." He says with an eye roll.

"You know, I don't even think you are mad at me." She says and Troy looks at her strangely. Of course he was mad at her! Why wouldn't he be? She broke his heart over and over and over again these past weeks and he couldn't just forgive her like that.

"What the hell?" He states, slightly confused and Gabriella nods.

"No, you're just pissed off because for the first time, Troy Bolton didn't get what Troy Bolton wanted!" She says forcefully and Troy suddenly feels the temptation to hit something. How dare she say that when all he wanted was her. She was making it seem like he didn't even like her! How could she put the blame onto him?

"You know, I hope you and Nate have a nice life."

Gabriella crosses her arms. "What that's supposed to mean?"

Troy narrows his eyes and gets up in her face. "Exactly that. Have fun when you two date, when you two fuck, and then when you get married. But I'm telling you now. Don't talk to me ever again. You hear that? I don't want to have anything to do with you any more! GO TO HELL GABRIELLA!" He yells once more and her eyes finally water up with tears, but she quickly blinks them away getting anger back into them again.

"I HOPE YOU FEEL REAL GREAT ABOUT YOURSELF TROY! I GUESS I'LL MEET YOU IN HELL THEN!" She screams and they stare at each other for a moment longer, before she storms away. He watches as she tries to show off as much attitude as she possibly could.

Troy feels the anger in his veins raging. His blood was starting to boil and he felt as though he could hit something. How dare she act like that! He wasn't pissed off because he didn't get what he wanted! Well, that was a small reason, but he was pissed because the thing he wanted was her! Troy runs his fingers through his hair and felt his eyes almost giving off frost they had turned so cold.

"EVERYWHERE WE GO!" Troy hears Chad's voice yell and he knows that he should help him, but he was just so pissed off he couldn't go for it. He hadn't remembered a time when he had been so pissed off. Everything that had happed for the past four months crashed down onto his shoulders and he felt awful. Nothing would be able to fix this.

The crowd roars and Troy quickly looks up at the score board. The Wildcats were winning by twenty four points and there was only 2:30 left in the game. Troy looks over, reminding himself that Zeke and Sharpay were standing by him. Sharpay turns to her boyfriend and smiles. "Since we're gonna win, I'm gonna go with Ryan so we can beat everyone back at the house."

That's right, Sharpay's party, Troy completely forgot about that. Zeke smiles at her and kisses her goodbye. Troy turns away, trying not to stare them down because of how damn happy they were. How could everyone be so happy while Troy was standing here with the weight of the world on his shoulders, pissed beyond anything else? "Are you alright Troy? You look pale."

Zeke must have been too wrapped up with Sharpay to notice Troy and Gabriella's argument just now. He looks back out onto the field, knowing that in his heart he just wanted to scream his lungs out. "I gotta stop thinking." Troy says out loud. This was true, Troy had to stop thinking, because all thinking did was cause him pain. He knew what he had to do to take away all of this pain he was feeling, and the more he thought of it, the more it seemed to please Troy.

"What does that mean?" Zeke asks and Troy looks over at his friend and shakes his head. Suddenly, the crowd goes wild and Troy looks out to find that the Wildcats had just won the homecoming game. People were jumping up and down, screaming and happy, but Troy felt separated from them. He pissed. And he wanted revenge. After a few minutes, Zeke says he'll meet Troy at the game but he doesn't respond. He walks out of the bleachers, not seeing Gabriella at all, which made it good. He couldn't look at her now. But he couldn't be thinking about her, no way. That's why he had to do the thing that was on his mind.

Troy finds his best friend running at him once he gets off the bleachers. "DUDE, WE WON!!!!" Chad screams and pulls Troy into a hug. Everyone around him was bouncing off the walls, all patting him on the back and trying to hug him. But Troy felt as though he was watching someone. Someone runs up in front of Troy and throws their arms around him.

"HOLY SHIT!!!" Bridget yells in Troy's ear and he sets her down forcefully, not really wanting to touch her. "Oh my god I can't believe we won!"

"Yea, what a shocker." Troy bored says and looks up at Chad who looked impatient.

"So you better be going to Sharpay's." Bridget demands, still hanging onto his arm.

"I am. So I guess I'll see you there then." Troy says with an annoyed tone and Bridget seems to not notice.

"Good. I'll be waiting for you." She says seductively in his ear and plants a kiss on his jaw. He pushes her off not even saying goodbye and walks silently out with Chad. He could hear the cheers coming down into the parking lot and Troy and Chad finally make it to his car. Once inside, Troy pulls out, fast and comes out of the parking lot with speed.

"Dude, slow down." Chad says and Troy pulls his foot off the gas a little bit, but they were still speeding. "So tell me, why the hell Gabriella came over to Taylor crying saying that you hate her."

Troy rolls his eyes and takes a sharp turn. "Because she's a bitch." He says plainly.

"Ok, I've tried asking you before, and I'm gonna ask you again. Don't you think she's suffered enough?" Chad asks and Troy violently shakes his head.

"No."

Troy looks over to see Chad roll his eyes. "We all want the normal Troy back, not some bad ass Troy." He states and Troy laughs.

"Great. But you're not getting him back." Troy says as he pulls into the huge driveway with over fifty cars already lined up leading to the huge house. He parks behind what he recognizes as Jason's car and gets out. Chad follows and they start to make their way up the house. Troy sighs and pulls out his car keys. "You're my best friend, right?"

Chad looks at Troy questionably and raises his eyebrows. "Yeah…"

Troy nods and holds out his keys. "Here, take these. I need you to promise me your going to drive me home, and don't give me the keys no matter how hard I beg, or fight with you, got it?"

Chad stops Troy and looks at him. Troy could tell he was concerned but he wasn't going back now. He didn't want to feel anymore, he didn't want to think about Gabriella. He just wanted it all to go away. "Troy… what the hell?" Chad asks as he takes the keys and Troy runs his fingers through his hair.

"Just promise me." He says and Chad slowly nods, still confused.

"What's going on Troy?!" He demands and Troy looks up at his best friend. He had no idea how much Troy was hurting, no one did. And no one knew how angry he was at Gabriella. So no one would understand. "Troy!"

Troy looks up and smirks. "I have only one goal tonight." He plainly says and Chad raises his eyebrows once more.

"What?" He asks and Troy looks up at the huge house and feels the ice from his eyes burn into his best friend's own. He wanted everything to go away. He wanted to loose control. He wanted to get drunk.

"Get as fucking wasted as I possibly can so I don't even remember Gabriella's damn name."


	24. A Party to Remember

**Author's Note**: These next two chapters were supposed to be one, but it was too long so I couldn't keep it that way. I really like these chapters and I hope you guys to too. Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are great!

* * *

Gabriella sat in the passenger's seat as they drive up to the huge house that was sitting on the top of the hill. She sighs and looks out the window as Taylor finds a parking spot and tries to hold back tears. She thought that maybe she could make things right with Troy tonight, that maybe he'd finally want to forgive her. But she was wrong. This other Troy had a cold heart, not the warm caring one that her Troy had. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she thinks how badly she and Troy's talk went. He never wanted to talk to her again. This was awful; no it was worse than awful, it was hell. And all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and hide.

"Are you ready Gabs?" Taylor breaks into her thoughts and Gabriella finally tears her eyes away from the window and sighs. No, she wasn't ready. She couldn't be ready. Not with Troy in there. He'd probably avoid her the whole night, or hit on Bridget because that's all he seemed to be doing these days.

"No. Tay, I wanna go home." She says and Taylor sighs.

"Look, honey, what Troy said? He didn't mean any of it ok?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "You weren't there Taylor!" She says and throws her hands up in the air to add the effect. "You didn't hear him. He hates me, and never wants to see me again. This is all my fault." She says and Taylor shakes her head.

"Gabs, I want you to listen to me. It's not all your fault, not even close ok? Troy is making a huge deal out of this. I'll take you home if you're not having fun, but Gabs, it's the night before our last homecoming. You want this to be a night you remember." She states and pulls Gabriella into a hug. Gabriella forces herself not to let the tears in her eyes fall. They pull away from each other and Taylor gives her a soft smile. "Come on, let's go party." She says and they get out of the car. Gabriella walks over to Taylor who links arms with her. Once they get up to the door, they ring the bell, but figure that's stupid, no one would hear because they could already hear the base of speakers echoing. Taylor pushes the huge door open and they step into a familiar entrance, but find that there are about ten people standing in it.

"Um…I'll follow you." Gabriella says timidly and Taylor laughs. They make their way into the living room, where there were at least thirty people there. Gabriella scans the faces and finds two familiar ones.

"GABREILLA! TAYLOR!" Sharpay yells over the base and drags Zeke's hand along with her. She hugs both girls and Gabriella could smell a faint scent of alcohol on the girl's body. "How come you guys are so late? The game ended an hour ago!"

Taylor shrugs at this comment. "We had some things to talk about." This was true; Gabriella had filled Taylor in on everything that was said between her and Troy before they came over. She was too upset during the game to discuss anything with her at the time.

"Oh well, whatever. Mostly everyone is in courtyard cuz that's where Ryan's DJing. Weird huh? Anyways, there are drinks everywhere, so help yourself, and yea! Gabs, let me take that for you." Sharpay offers and grabs Gabriella's hoodie. She takes it off and then looks at the blonde again.

"Sharpay, won't your parents be upset about such a big party?" She asks and Sharpay laughs.

"Maybe, if they knew about it! They're in the Bahamas right now, and will be there until noon tomorrow, but they'll be there for pictures. Ryan and I gave the house workers off tonight, and they'll just clean up tomorrow. We pay them extra not to tell Mother and Daddy." She says and looks up at Zeke for a moment. "But I'm gonna go take your jacket hoodie sweatshirt thing up to my room. Come on Zekey!" She says and pulls on his hand.

"Take care of her tonight ok Zeke?" Taylor quickly says and Zeke nods. Gabriella figures that Sharpay was already partially drunk and was only going to get worse, like most of the people at this party. Taylor turns to Gabriella and smiles a little. "I'm dying to find my lunk-head basketball man. Let's go." She says and pulls Gabriella's arm but Gabriella doesn't move.

"Tay, wherever Chad is, he'll be. Please, can't we just…"

"Gabs, if you don't come with, I'm leaving you here." Taylor says and starts to walk toward the door. Gabriella, suddenly scared, goes running after her. Taylor smiles and they make they're way into the courtyard, that Gabriella could remember thinking that it would be perfect for a party when she first saw it.

And she was right. There was a stage on one side that she could see Ryan on, acting as a DJ. In every corner, she could see a table where she knew multiple drinks were. She looks up to find that in the center of the courtyard, was a huge platform where it looked like one hundred people were dancing on next to the pool which people were in. Lights were illuminating the courtyard but it was still slightly dark. She suddenly felt self-conscious being around all these people and looks at Taylor, who gave her a reassuring smile. Suddenly, Gabriella watches as a figure comes up behind Taylor and gives her a quick hug. She smiles and kisses Chad on the lips, but Chad pulls away quickly. "Hey Tay…" She also sees Chloe, Jason and Kelsi at his heels.

"Hi Chad." She greets her boyfriend and kisses him again. He pulls away almost immediately and Taylor looks disappointed. Chloe turns her direction to Gabriella.

"Gabs, we have a problem." She says and Gabriella looks from Taylor to Chad.

"These to aren't pregnant are they?" She asks jokingly and Taylor rolls her eyes but Chad keeps a serious face.

"Not funny" Taylor says and both Kelsi and Jason laugh, but Chad and Chloe keep a straight face.

"No, it's not about us. It's about Troy." Chad says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"Chad, I don't to hear it. Troy doesn't want to talk to me and there's no chance of us making up…" She starts but Chad shakes his head. Both Taylor and Gabriella look at him concerned.

"No it's not that. It's…" He starts but is cut off by a sudden yelling.

"TAYLOR!" Gabriella's heart flips as she sees Troy come up behind Chad, who had just closed his eyes. Troy grabs Taylor and pulls her into a hug and Gabriella could feel the jealousy surge through her body. He pulls away and doesn't even give Gabriella a glance. "Tay, I'm so glad you're here!" He says and she looks at him strangely. Sure, Taylor and Troy were friends, but they were never super close or anything. Something wasn't right.

"I'm glad to see you too Troy." Taylor says awkwardly and looks over at Gabriella.

"I had to tell you tonight, that I'm so happy you and Chad are going out. And I hope you guys have an amazing time whatever you do tonight." Troy says and Gabriella could suddenly get a strong waft of alcohol. The realization suddenly dawns on her and her eyes grow wide as she looks at Chad. He nods as if confirming her suspicions and then looks back at Troy.

"Captain, there's someone else here too." Chad says as if to patch things up between the two and directs his eyes toward Gabriella. She closes her own and opens them to see Troy's eyes were piercing into her own.

"Umm… I don't see anyone worth talking to." Troy spits out and Gabriella feels her heart break a little further. Chad takes a step over by Gabriella as if standing in front of her.

"Troy, stop…"

"Chad, its fine." Gabriella says in a small voice, still looking up at Troy. He stares at her a moment longer, then turns around.

"Will! Dude what's up?!" Troy says and walks in the other direction toward another person. Chad turns around and looks at her.

"Chad, don't try to force him to talk to me." She says and looks down. "He hates me."

Chad shakes his head. "He doesn't hate you. He's just breaking down right now. I was going to stop him from getting drunk, but the only thing harder than stopping asshole Troy from doing what you want is getting wasted Troy to do something you want. I just got to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't choke on his puke or something." He says and they both look over to find Troy talking to someone else with another red plastic cup in his hand.

"I need a drink." Gabriella says and walks over to one of the tables. She makes herself a screwdriver and then heads back over to where she left the gang, who now had cups in their hands and Chad's arms were around Taylor. She could already tell it was going to be a long night.

About an hour later, Gabriella was sitting on a chair in the courtyard, watching Taylor and Chad dancing on the platform. She looks over at Chloe, who was sitting next to her and sighs. She hadn't seen Troy since she first got here and was trying to avoid him at all costs. "You know." Chloe starts and then takes a sip of whatever she was drinking. Gabriella had stopped drinking alcohol after her second glass because she didn't want to loose control tonight and do something stupid. Especially something stupid when Troy was around. "I haven't seen Sharpay or Zeke since I got here. And she's the one hosting the party."

Gabriella shrugs. "Yea, but there have to be over two hundred people here." She says looking around and looks over to Chloe. "The music is starting to give me a headache, can we go inside?"

Chloe nods and takes Gabriella's arm as they walk into the house again. This time, Gabriella finds herself in an unfamiliar setting, where over forty people were in a single room, cheering about something. Gabriella figures it's another living room when she sees the huge TV in the corner, but it was turned off. The attention of the guests was on something that was sitting in the middle of the room, but Gabriella couldn't see what it was. "WHO'S NEXT?" Someone yells and a guy and a girl who were holding hands, make their way through the crowd where Gabriella could finally see a table.

"What are they doing?" She asks, still not fully able to see what was going on. Suddenly, the girl lies down and grabs a lemon from a bucket that was sitting next to the table. She puts in her mouth and turns her head and Gabriella saw the guy lie down on top of her and lick her neck.

"Body shots." Chloe says and Gabriella nods, finally realizing what they were doing. She backed away slowly, feeling awkward watching this random couple, and runs into a body behind her.

"Hey!" The guy says and Gabriella turns around to see Nate smiling down at her. She smiles back and gives him a quick hug. "Hey Chloe!" He greets her and Chloe smiles.

"Hey Nate." She says and turns away from the table as well. "So are you excited for tomorrow?" She asks and Gabriella figures that she was just trying to make small talk. Nate nods and puts an arm around Gabriella and squeezes.

"Yea, I'm so pumped! I can't wait." He says and looks down at Gabriella once again. She smile a little then all of the sudden hears a loud cheer from behind her. Gabriella's body tenses up as she turns around and immediately sidesteps out of Nate's grasp.

"BOLTON!" Someone yells and Gabriella watches as Troy stubbles into the room, but laughs it off. Maybe no one was noticing how wasted he was, or maybe they all were themselves. They all seemed to take their eyes off of the two people on the table to come greet their Wildcat captain and Gabriella starts to look around for an exit. She didn't want to be there with Nate right now, although she knew Troy would just ignore her.

"What's going on in here?" Troy asks, and Gabriella had to admit, even though he swaggered a little, Troy wasn't slurring his words. Although he was saying stupid things, he could walk pretty well except for a couple slips here and there.

"Body shots. Dude, you should do one!" She hears someone suggest him and Gabriella feels her body freeze. She slowly backs more toward the corner, praying that he wouldn't turn his head to find her, or he was just too drunk to notice her. But there was no way in hell she wanted Troy to give someone else a body shot.

"We should go." Nate and Chloe say at the same time and Gabriella nods. If they could just work their way around the crowd standing in the doorway, she could just blend in and he wouldn't notice her.

"Nah. I'm really not in the mood to…" He starts to say but turns his head and his eyes lock on Gabriella. "night." Her body tenses up and she watches him smirk and walk over to where she was standing, but looks over at Nate instead. "Dude, Collins, what's up man?" He says and puts his hand out as if to do the hand shake every guy does. Nate looks at in confused and then grabs Troy's and Troy pulls him into a hug for a second, then quickly backs away.

"Uhh… hey Troy." Nate greets him, probably feeling awkward and Gabriella was still tense. She quickly glances at Chloe who had the same look on her face that Gabriella did.

"So, you must be excited for homecoming tomorrow." Troy says, but with a tone that Gabriella could tell that this conversation was going to go all wrong. "You do get the best girl in school. I bet you can't wait." He says and quickly glances at Gabriella. Usually, she'd be flattered by this, but now that he was drunk. Gabriella was scared instead.

"Err… yea I guess." Nate says and quickly looks around the room, probably trying to find an exit. Gabriella figures that the last time these two boys had talked was probably when Troy blew up at him at preseason.

"Good, just do me a favor. Let me know how good she is. Because I never even got to fucking kiss her." Troy says angrily and Chloe grabs Gabriella's arm.

"Gabs, come on we're leaving." She says and tries to pull Gabriella out with her but Troy places a hand on Chloe's shoulder.

"Come on, date." He says strangely. "I just got here."

He lets go of Chloe's shoulder and a sudden cheer erupts from behind him. Troy turns around and looks as the couple gets up and off the table. He smirks as he looks back at Gabriella and suddenly she feels herself being backed into a wall. "Gabs!" Chloe and Nate start walking toward her as if to save her from Troy but she shakes her head. She had to handle this herself. He stops as soon as her back hit's the Evan's wall and she looks up into Troy's cold eyes. She suddenly gets a flashback to into the weight room as Troy puts his hands above her shoulders, caging her in. Nate takes another step forward but Gabriella shakes her head again and looks back up into Troy's eyes.

He smirks again as he leans in and for a moment, Gabriella thought he was going to kiss her. But his head turns to the side and he breathes hot air into her ear which gives Gabriella the shivers. The music was pumping in the background and Gabriella could still smell the scent of alcohol on his body. "Would you be jealous if I gave someone else a body shot?"

She closes her eyes and forces herself to think. She didn't want to answer him, because if she told the truth, he would have power over her. And she couldn't let that happen. Her eyes open once again and she takes a deep breath. "I thought you said you were never going to talk to me again." She says boldly and she could hear Troy chuckle a little.

"That was a few hours ago. This is now." He whispers and she could almost feel him smirk again. "You didn't answer my question."

"WHO'S NEXT?" Someone yells again in the far off distance.

Gabriella was trying not to be turned on by how seductive he was being right now. She was pissed at him, and he was only doing this because he was pissed at her and drunk. This meant nothing. But she couldn't help it. It was Troy, and Troy was her weakness. "Yes." She barely whispers and she could feel Troy smirk again.

"Good." He whispers and suddenly feels wetness on the bottom of her ear. She jumps in surprise and then realizes that Troy was nipping on it. She feels her body get the shivers. But as quickly as it happened, Troy removes his hands from above her shoulders and turns away from her. He grabs a random girl and Gabriella watches in horror as he lifts up their arms. "We'll do it!"

It took a second for Gabriella to notice that the girl he grabbed was Jackie, one of Bridget's stooges. She watches as Troy turns around to quickly smirk at her and then make his way up to the front. "Come on Gabs, let's get out of here." She hears Chloe say but she shakes her head. As much as it would pain her, she felt like she had to watch this happen. She pushes her way further up with Chloe and Nate on her heels so she could see better.

Gabriella watches in horror as Jackie grabs a lime from the bucket and lays her thin body down on the table. Troy looks up at Gabriella again and smirks and then grabs salt and places a shot glass in between her breasts. He gets up on the table and straddles her, while Gabriella could feel jealously surging through her veins. She wanted to be in that position, not watching him do it to someone else.

Troy lifts up the bottom of Jackie's shirt and he looks over at Gabriella once again. He gives her one last smirk before leaning down and placing his tongue on her stomach. Gabriella suddenly feels like she's going to throw up. She closes her eyes and so desperately wishes this was a dream, and she was going to wake up and find it was two weeks ago. But she opens them once again to see Troy sprinkle salt on Jackie's stomach and place his tongue back onto her skin as Jackie arches her back, and Gabriella swears she hears a moan. Troy lifts his head up again and does the same thing to her neck, Gabriella cringing with every second that went by. There were no tears though, because she had to be strong. Troy then takes the lime from Jackie's mouth with his own and the shot glass and then finally gets off of her, with cheers from all of the drunken people. He smirks at Gabriella again and she shakes her head in disgust. She quickly grabs Nate's hand and turns away, fuming. "Let's dance." She says forcefully and leads him out onto the platform, Chloe following behind them.

Once there and seeing Chad and Taylor grinding and waving at the two, she turns around and forces her back to Nate's front violently, trying to get rid of the image of Troy on top of Jackie that was officially burned into her head. She moves her hips and they suddenly catch rhythm. What she wanted to do was let the tears that were lingering in her eyes flow, but she wasn't going to. She had to be strong, or at least try. "Gabs… look what Troy just did was stupid, but…"

"Stop, I don't want to talk about him." She says and looks up at Nate's face who looked concerned.

"Look, Gabs, why don't I just take you home. I have to go soon anyways…" He starts but Gabriella shakes her head.

"I don't want to go home." This was true. She didn't want to go home because then she didn't have to think. She feels Nate sigh behind her and then snake his arms around her waste and get back into the rhythm once more. Gabriella turns her head to the side to see Chloe with a guy who she knew was in gym with them and Chloe tries to give her a smile, but it doesn't work.

"Gabs, you look upset." Taylor says. "Did something happen?"

Gabriella shakes her head and feels Nate's body tense up behind her. "Oh, you know. Wasted Troy decided it would be funny to give Jackie a body shot in front of me."

She watches as Chad's face hardens and lets go of Taylor. "I'll kill him." He says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"It's fine, whatever, he's drunk, he can do whatever the hell he wants." Gabriella lies and then Chad still doesn't look happy, but returns behind Taylor and move once again.


	25. When You Care

**Author's Note**: Like I said, this was supposed to be part of the last chapter but it was too long so I had to shorten it. Thanks for reading and I think you guys will like this chapter.

* * *

After a half an hour of dancing, Nate looks down at Gabriella and stops. She was still incredibly pissed off at Troy but was forcing herself to try and not think about it. That would only make it hurt more. She turns around to face him. "Damn, Gabs, I gotta go. It's 11:51 and my curfew is midnight. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow? I can't wait." He says and Gabriella nods. He smiles and leans down to kiss her cheek. "Bye Gabriella." 

She waves and then looks over to the side to see that Chad and her best friend weren't dancing anymore. She looks over at Chloe who immediately stops dancing with that other guy and raises her eyebrows. "Where did Tay and Chad go?"

Chloe shrugs her shoulders. "No idea. They just left about ten minutes ago. How are you feeling though?"

Gabriella shrugs. "He can go to hell for all I care." She says coldly and then rolls her eyes. "It just hurts like hell."

Chloe nods and grabs her arm. "Come on, I'm thirsty." She says and they make their way out from the dance floor and reach a corner where drinks were still being served. Chloe, who seemed to hold her liquor well, takes a purple rain and Gabriella just takes water, since she knew she was going to be home in another two hours and didn't want to take the chance of drinking too much. "When's your curfew?"

Gabriella takes another sip of water and shrugs. "My mom said since it's the night before homecoming, I could be out until 2:30. She thought I was just coming here with the gang. She had no idea Sharpay and Ryan were practically throwing their own homecoming."

Chloe nods. "Mine's one thrity. My parents were thinking the same thi…" She starts but couldn't finish what she was saying, because Chad runs up in between the two.

"GABS!" He yells and Gabriella looks at him strangely. "Come on…" He says and grabs her arm. Gabriella lightly shrugs it off and stares at him confused. He was sweating for some reason and he looked panicked. Actually, he looked like someone was just murdered.

"Whoa, slow down. What's wrong?" She asks calmly and Chad grabs her arm again.

"It's Troy." Gabriella feels her eyes grow wide as every feeling of anger toward him disappears. Just the look on Chad's face was enough to totally wipe off everything that had just happened in the past week and a half. She grabs Chloe's arm and lets Chad drag them across the courtyard and into the house. Panic was filling Gabriella quickly. What if he had been so drunk he did something stupid, like jump off the top of the house? Or what if he tried to drive and hit someone else? Fear spreads through out her body as they start running up the giant stairway and turn some corners to a room that Gabriella figures was a guest bedroom. She looks inside to see that it's empty. "In here." He says and leads the two girls into the bathroom to find Troy's head in the toilet and Taylor rubbing his back. Gabriella quickly kneels down next to Taylor and finds Troy coughing.

"He's been throwing up nonstop for the past fifteen minutes." Taylor simply says and Gabriella sighs in relief. She was thankful that this wasn't the end of the world, but she looks up at Chad while she could hear Troy taking deep breaths.

"What happened?"

Chad sighs and looks at Taylor who nods. "Tay and I came upstairs to…" He trails off as Gabriella realizes that they were planning to have sex. She looks at Taylor who suddenly becomes red and Chad coughs out of embarrassment. But Gabriella knew it wouldn't have been the first time. "Anyways, we were in the hallway when we heard someone yelling and looked over to see that Jackie had stormed out of a bedroom, screaming 'You just can't get over her can you?' We got suspicious and found Troy sitting on the bed with his head in his hands when he suddenly got up and sprinted to the bathroom. He's been throwing up ever since. And we figured we'd come find you."

Gabriella nods and looks down at Troy. He violently shakes and then she could hear the vomit come out his mouth and land into the toilet. Taylor nudges backward out of disgust as she does this and Gabriella takes the opportunity to take her spot and begins to rubs his back while he throws up again. She looks around the huge bathroom to find that she couldn't see any towels. She looks up at the other three people who easily fit into the bathroom and sighs. "Chlo, try to go and find some towels. We're gonna need to get him cleaned up when he's done." The body beneath her hand shakes again and she cringes at the sound of Troy again.

Chloe nods and leaves and Troy finally lifts his head up. He looked awful. His face was pale and his eyes were only half open. Sweat was dripping down his face as well. He squints and looks behind him. "Gabi?"

"We'll go help Chloe." Gabriella hears Taylor say and figures they were just trying to give the two some privacy. Troy leans back and slumps up with his back against the wall. His eyes open more and Gabriella felt a small smile creep onto her face. The ice that had been there for the past week and a half was fading as he looked at her. She lifts up her hand and gently removes the red bandana that was there and sets it on the ground. She slowly runs her fingers through his hair to get it out of his face a little and he sighs into her touch. Suddenly, he turns white again and leans down into the toilet and pukes.

"Oh Troy." She whispers as Troy's body trembles and sits with his hands clenching the rim gasping for breath. He leans back and rests his back on the wall once again, panting heavily. Suddenly, the door opens once again and Chloe runs in with four towels and Chad and Taylor follow with more. They then silently leave the room, probably trying to give the two space. Gabriella grabs a small one and stands up to run in under cold water. She then grabs another, only wetting the tip slightly and kneels back down beside Troy and takes the damp cloth to clean his face off. He turns away for a second but she looks up into his eyes to get his attention. "Let me help." She says then sets it down and places the wetter of the two onto his forehead.

"Why are you helping me?" Troy says in a raspy voice and looks up at her. She could tell he was defiantly still drunk, but not as drunk as he was only an hour ago. "I treat you like shit… I mean I really did… even though you screwed with me first… I still took it to far… and you still help me… Are you on crack?" Troy asks and Gabriella could tell that he was still extremely drunk because he was talking like an idiot.

Gabriella smiles a little and looks up into his eyes. "No, I'm not on crack. I guess that's what you do when you really care about someone." She says boldly, knowing that Troy wouldn't remember this in the morning. He moves his eyes to the ceiling and seems to focus his attention on whatever was there.

"You should go… with Nate… since I know that's where you want to be… and I'm sure you guys have to talk about what your having at the restaurant for homecoming tomorrow… wherever he is…I…" He starts and coughs a little. Gabriella scoots backwards, scared that he's going to throw up again, but he doesn't. She moves closer again and he looks down at her hand. She figures it would probably be a bad idea to tell him Nate already left. She grabs his, which was limp and closes her eyes.

"I wouldn't leave you like this." She says truthfully and opens her eyes to see him staring off at something behind her. Gabriella looks to her side to see Chad standing in the doorway.

"Gabs, Chloe and Tay have to be home by one thirty. It's one fifteen. I can take Troy from here." Gabriella suddenly feels her stomach drop. No matter what Troy did this past week, no matter what he did or said to her tonight, she didn't want to leave his side. Not when he was like this. She needed to be sure he was safe.

"I'm not leaving him." She says and Chad shakes his head.

"Gabriella, I can take care of him."

Gabriella shakes her head. "I don't care. I'm not leaving him." She says and feels herself squeeze his hand. She looks over to find that he's eyes were starting to close and she knew he was starting to loose consciousness. "I'm the reason he's like this and I'm not leaving him."

"You don't owe him anything Gabriella." Chad states and Gabriella shakes her head. She needed to stay with him. He was talking to her, and even if he was drunk, it still meant the world to Gabriella. He could wake up tomorrow and not want anything to do with her again, tell her he hates her, anything like that. She wanted as much time with him as possible.

"I don't care. You take Taylor home. I'll drive Troy's truck back." She says and begins to pat down Troy's upper thighs where his pockets were. Suddenly, a pair of keys drops in front of her and she looks back up at Chad.

"He gave them to me before we got inside." Gabriella nods and picks them up. She puts them in her pockets and stands up, grabbing one of Troy's shoulders. Chad comes around and grabs his other shoulder and try to lift him up but they were in an awkward position and couldn't get a hold of him. "Come on Troy, you're gonna have to help us out here."

Troy laughs a little and then moves his feet on the floor. They get him half way up but his feet slip and they fall back down. "Come on Troy." Gabriella says slightly irritated at his wasted self for not being helpful and they finally manage to get him up. They drag him out the bedroom and down the steps with Chloe and Taylor at their heels. By this late at night, everyone was wasted. A few people try to come up and talk to Troy, but Chad and Gabriella quickly hurry them away. They even saw Bridget for a moment, but Gabriella made sure to get away as quickly as possible. They leave the huge house and head out to the cars. Troy's truck was right in the middle of the packed cars and Taylor's car was more toward the end. Chad and Gabriella place Troy into the passenger's seat and they find a plastic bag in his back seat, just incase he would throw up again.

"If you need anything, just call alright?" Chad says and Gabriella nods. She hugs him, and then her two best friends. Chad leans down to see that Troy had his head on the dash board and pats him on the shoulder. "Dude… you need help." He finishes as Troy looks up at him and then returns his head back onto the dashboard. "Take care of him ok?" Chad says and Gabriella nods. They all wave and then she sits down into the front seat, when a realization dawns on her.

"Shit!" She says and looks helplessly at the car and turns around to see that Chad was just pulling out of the driveway. She closes her eyes and tries to recall a memory.

"Whatz wrong?" Troy slurs out and looks over at her. She places her head in her hands, desperately trying to think of the memory right before they started working at Lava Springs. "Gabi?"

"I forgot your car is a stick." She says muffled. Troy had taught her how to drive a stick while they were going out, but she only did it once and she couldn't remember now that the pressure was on.

"Don't worry… I'll drive." Troy says and starts to meddle with his seatbelt but can't get it. Gabriella rolls her eyes and puts her hand on his. There was no way she was going to let him drive in this condition.

"No you won't." She says and then closes her eyes again. 'You can do this Montez." She thinks to herself and suddenly everything comes back to her. "Press down on the clutch pedal and then move the gearshift into the neutral position, that's my girl". She remembered Troy told her when she was learning and then everything slowly comes back to her. She feels confident and starts the car. Yes. Gabriella pulls out, jerking a lot, but it didn't matter. She just had to get them home.

After a minute of driving, everything finally clicks and she remembers everything he taught her. After about five minutes of silence, she glances over at Troy who looked like he was going to pass out at any minute. His eyes kept opening and closing and she knew she was going to loose him soon. "You ok?" She asks and glances over quickly to watch him nod.

"I kept pretending it was you the whole time." He slurs out and Gabriella suddenly becomes confused. What the hell was he talking about? "I wanted it to be you, but I wanted you to be jealous."

Gabriella suddenly realizes he was talking about giving Jackie a body shot. She could tell the alcohol was slowly draining from his body since he could talk in full sentences, but she knew he was going to pass out soon. They finally arrive at the Bolton household and Gabriella parks the car in the driveway. She quickly gets out and runs over to the passenger seat and opens the door. After unbuckling his seatbelt, she tries to pull him up but realizes how heavy he actually was. For once in her life, she actually wished he wasn't built so well because the muscle was weighing him down. "Ok, Troy, you gotta help me… please." She pleads and feels Troy give a little effort. They finally get into a standing position and suddenly, Gabriella gets scared. She knew she couldn't let Troy get caught, because if he did then she knew his dad wouldn't let him play this season. She looks up at Troy and sighs. "You need to be silent ok?" He nods but his head drops onto her shoulder a little and she pulls him in.

Finally, after some effort, she manges to open the door of Troy's room and then lean him up against the bed. She runs over and closes the door, then smiles a little when she sees the giant basketball headboard. Her hands lift his long sleeve shirt that smelled like vomit over his head and figures he could just sleep in basketball shorts. She places him under the covers and looks over at both nightstands and smiles as she sees a picture of them a prom and other of her school picture last year. Her attention goes back to Troy as he moans. "God, my head hurts."

Gabriella nods as she knows this would be the beginning of a very long hang over he would have tomorrow. She smiles a little and then stands up. "Bye Troy."

But he wouldn't let her go that easily. Troy places his hand on hers and squints to look up at him. "Don't go." He moans and Gabriella looks at the clock. It was 2:03 AM. It would take her at least fifteen minutes to walk home, so she sighs and sits down on the bed beside him. Her hand moves up to his forehead and wipes the hair out of his face that was connected there by sweat.

"You need rest." Gabriella says and Troy shakes his head.

"I need you." Gabriella's heart flips at this. She knew he was still slightly drunk, but it didn't matter to her. She looks into his face and watches as his eyes started to close, but he was struggling to keep awake. "Just stay with me, please." He begs and finally closes his eyes. "Please." He whispers again but Gabriella stands and feels Troy squeeze her hand, as if he was trying to fight with her to sit back down.

"Sleep. You need your rest for tomorrow." She whispers and leans down to kiss his forehead. As soon as she does, his breathing becomes even and she knew he finally passed out. She looks down into his face and sighs. He looked so peaceful, for the fist time in two weeks. Her lips connect to his forehead once again and she has the temptation to kiss his lips. But she wanted their first kiss to be while both of them were awake, not when one was passed out because they were drunk.

Gabriella moves away from Troy's bed and opens the door to his room as quietly as she can. She looks back at him for one moment; "Bye Troy." She whispers then shuts the door and creeps through the house silently. Once outside, she finally walks normal and begins to make her way back to her house, with her head spinning. It was official; she had to talk to him tomorrow when he was sober. She couldn't let things be awkward tomorrow at homecoming. Taking one step at a time, a fear suddenly takes over her. What if he woke up tomorrow and didn't remember anything? What if he still didn't want to talk to her anymore? She finally reaches her house and quietly opens the door and shuts it. She leans against it and closes her eyes, thinking about what really scared her the most.

What if he did?


	26. Fourth Time's the Charm

Gabriella stops and parks in the driveway for the second time in the past nine hours. She sighs and looks up at it, scared to get out. Almost immediately after getting inside her room last night, she fell asleep and woke up this morning, knowing what she had to do. She had to talk to him otherwise tonight was going to be awful and awkward and she couldn't let the happen. Gabriella also had to know if everything he said to her last night was true or if he was just drunk. After about three minutes, she finally finds the courage to get out of the car and begins to make her way up the driveway. Finally, she reaches the door and rings it, turning away trying to think of how to start the conversation.

She hears the door open behind her and she turns around to find Mrs. Bolton's smiling face. "Gabriella! Honey it's so good to see you!" She says and walks outside the door to give her a hug. Troy's mom and Gabriella were friends when they were going out and she loved both his parents.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton." She says and Troy's mom lets her go.

"Well come inside." She says and leads Gabriella into the house. She stands in the doorway and the mother smiles. "Let me call Troy down. TROY!" She yells up into the house and Gabriella finds Coach Bolton walk out of what she knew was the kitchen.

"He's not here…" Troy's dad starts and then sees Gabriella in the doorway. "Hi Gabriella, I didn't even realize you were here. Troy's at the school, running on the track. He should be back shortly though." Coach Bolton tells her and Gabriella smiles.

"Thanks Mr. Bolton but I think I'm going to go up and find him." She says and watches the couple nod.

"Ok, he didn't seem to be feeling very well this morning. He said he had an awful headache." Gabriella eyes suddenly grow wide. His parents were completely oblivious to the fact that their son probably had the hangover of the century right now.

"Alright, well I'll go check there. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Bolton." She says and watches Troy's mom smile.

"Don't be a stranger alright? Jack and I miss you around the house." She says and Gabriella gives them a smile. She was praying that she would be around the house more.

"I miss being here. But thank you so much. Bye!" She says and waves to them and walks back out the door. This might actually work to her advantage, because now they didn't have to hide from his parents while they talked. That is, if Troy wanted to talk to her.

Gabriella gets in her car and begins to drive to her high school. Thoughts were running wild through her head. What if he still hated her? What if he'd ignore her? What if he still never wanted to talk to her? She shakes her head and tries to focus on the road, because she would find out in just a few minutes.

The car finally pulls up to the high school and she parks it. Again, she sits there debating on turning around and just driving home. She didn't want her heart to break any further than it had already broken, and she knew that if he didn't want to talk to her now, it was over. There was nothing left then. She closes her eyes and finally opens the car door and starts to make her way to the stadium. Less than twenty four hours ago, she was going to the same places with the same mission. Only this time, she was praying for a different result.

Taking one foot at a time, Gabriella goes through the gate and looks up to find a figure at the other end of the track, running. She sighs and walks up right behind the fence that led to the football field and the track and waits. The figure was coming closer and she was starting to make out his features. Once he finally crosses the line, he doesn't look up at her but instead places his hands above his head and turns the other way. She sighs and suddenly holds her breath. She closes her eyes for a moment and thinks it's now or never. "Troy."

She opens her eyes to see him freeze for a moment, and then turn around. The breath she was holding releases as she looks up into his eyes and sees the crystal blue, instead of the pure ice she was so used to now. Troy sighs. "How'd you know I was here?" He asks instead of greeting her. Was he not greeting her a bad sign? Well, he was talking to her right? So that was a step forward.

"I went to your house and your parents told me." She says and takes a step toward him, keeping her eyes locked on his so she makes sure that they don't change. "How are you feeling?"

Troy laughs a little then scratches the back of his neck. "I have a headache the size of Manhattan. My favorite long sleeve shirt smells like puke, and all I want to do is sleep... Basically, I feel like shit." He sums up and looks at her again. "But I really don't think you came here to ask how I was feeling."

Gabriella nods and looks down at the ground. This was it, the moment of truth. She had already asked him three times and he had turned her down. This was her last chance. "Troy… I think…" She starts and sighs. "I think we need to talk."

She slowly looks up to find him walking over to her. It was over, he was going to blow up in her face, and she knew it. But surprisingly, he takes her hand and gives her a small smile. "Good, we were both thinking the same thing."

Relief spreads through out her body as she sighs. He laces his fingers with hers and begins in the opposite direction, pulling her with him. They leave the track and walk onto the football field. They sit down on, coincidentally; the fourteen yard line and they turn to face each other, still hanging onto to the other's hands. "Look, Troy..." She starts but he shakes his head.

"No, I need to go first." He says and sighs. "I need to say thank you. For everything you did last night." He says and Gabriella looks at him surprised.

"Troy, you were completely wasted… how did you…" She starts but he smiles.

"I may be a complete asshole with no control over myself when I'm drunk, but I remember everything. Weird huh?" He says and Gabriella suddenly blushes when she thinks about all that was said and done last night. He gives her a small smile and continues. "But thank you. I was a complete bastard to you last night, well for a week and a half and you still took care of me and acted like nothing was wrong. Not many people would do that Gabi." She smiles at the sound of his nickname for her. He breaks the eye contact and looks down, but then returns his gaze with sad eyes. "And I think this is long overdue."

"What is?" Gabriella asks and he continues to look at her with pain in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He simply states and Gabriella's heart soars. "For last night, what happened with Jackie, I don't even know what I was doing. I guess I only did it to get you jealous. I'm sorry for ruining your night last night because you were stuck taking care of me. But most of all…" Gabriella could see a tear well up in his eye but he quickly blinks it away. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you for the past week and a half. It was stupid and you didn't deserve that. Sure I was mad but I took it way too far." He says and Gabriella squeezes his hand.

"Yea, but I started it." She says and suddenly feels her own tears well up in her eyes, but like Troy, she blinks them away. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I ever said yes to Nate. I was jealous and upset and I thought it would be a good idea to piss you off. I wasn't thinking at the time and I'm so sorry."

Troy gives her a soft smile. "It's ok." He says Gabriella could feel the tears coming again but she tries to force herself to hide them. Troy lets go of their hands and holds out both arms. "Come here."

Gabriella smiles and gets on her knees and crawls over to him. She crosses the fourteen yard line and wraps her arms around his neck and she finally knows that he's forgiven her. Her whole body starts to feel happiness as she realizes how long it had been since she had been in Troy's arms. They sit there for about a minute then Troy lets go and Gabriella sits next to him, lacing their hands once again. Troy then lies down on his back and Gabriella follows, as they stare up at the grey sky. "It's supposed to storm tonight." Gabriella says randomly and Troy laughs.

"We just make up and all you can say is that there's going to be a storm tonight?" Gabriella sighs. It was the first thing that had come to her mind. It was true, it was supposed to be one of the biggest thunderstorms tonight and it was their final homecoming. Hopefully it would hold off until after the dance. Troy sighs beside her. "Can I ask you something?"

Gabriella nods. "Anything."

Troy looks over at her. "Why the hell would you think that I asked Bridget to homecoming? You knew I don't like her." She closes her eyes, wishing she didn't have to relive her mistake.

"Because you said you were nervous about something the day Nate asked me to homecoming." She watches as he winces at that last part. "I didn't think anything of it until Chloe and I went into the locker room for gym. Bridget was saying how you had to talk to her about something. She said she though you were going to ask her. I freaked out. And then when you talked to her in gym about them staying outside for practice, it really looked like you were asking her. Chloe even believed it. So when we got inside the locker room, Bridget came running in yelling that you asked her something, and you told her to keep it a secret until the next day because you didn't want anyone to know yet. So I assumed that it was homecoming." She says and watches as Troy shakes his head.

"That bitch." He releases and Gabriella sighs in relief. "I was thinking how weird it was that she was hugging me and stuff, but I tried not to think anything of it." He says and sighs. "I can't believe she would do that."

Gabriella's eyebrow rises. "You can't?"

Troy sighs and shakes his head. "I guess your right. She would do anything. I just don't want to believe someone would to that."

Gabriella nods and looks over at him. She could feel his thumb caressing her hand and sighs, knowing it's her turn to ask what had been on her mind for awhile. "Troy?"

"Hmmm?" He answers and looks at her again. She takes a deep breath and starts.

"Chad said you acted like the way you did the week once before. Why do you act like that?" She knew there had to be more of a reason besides what Chad told her about the older guys talking crap about his game. She watches as Troy closes his eyes, obviously not wanting to tell her. Something was fishy about this, and she really wanted to find out what it was.

"It's a long story." He says and turns away from her. She squeezes his hand to make him look at her once again.

"We have time." Gabriella says and watches Troy look up, fighting with himself about something. Now, she desperately wanted to know. If this was something that was incredibly important, she needed to know what it was. He looks into her eyes and sighs.

"Gabi, it's something I'm not proud of. In fact, I'd take it back in a heartbeat. And maybe someday I'll tell you. But right now, isn't someday." Gabriella feels her face fall a little. But she wasn't going to push him about it since they had just made up.

She nods and looks back up at the grey sky that was starting to turn a little darker. They lay there for another fifteen minutes, not saying a word. It wasn't an awkward silence though. It was comfortable, just being there with each other, for the first time probably since his grandpa had a heart attack, that neither one of them had angry feelings built up about the other. She turns to him and sighs.

"Troy, what happened to us?" She asks as she pops up on an elbow. He looks up at her and scrunches his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" He asks and she lets go of his hand and begins to trace the pattern of his bicep with her finger.

"After the championship game and scholastic decathlon last year, no drama ever happened to us. It was so calm. So… innocent. What happened? Why has all this stuff happened this year?" She asks and Troy sighs. He looks up at her with pain in his eyes.

"I made us work at Lava Springs." He says and then tears his eye away from hers. "Everything was fine until then. But then I got selfish. That's when this all started." He states and Gabriella sighs.

"I shouldn't have let you go though." She says in almost a whisper and this makes him quickly turn his head and look into her eyes. "I never wanted it to be like this. I thought… I thought that we'd take a break for a couple weeks, and then we'd get back together by the time school started… If I'd have known…" She starts but Troy shakes his head.

"We weren't ready to go back out then. Can you honestly say that you would have trusted me?" Gabriella thinks about this for a moment, and then shakes her head. "Exactly. You wouldn't have been happy if we'd have made up that night. And who knows what would have happened after that." He says and she nods.

Gabriella realized it was the first time they had talked about them breaking up and what would happen if they didn't. She sighs and then Troy sits up, bringing her up with him. "What's wrong?" She asks and he picks up a digital watch he must have been using to time himself before she arrived.

"It's already 1:30. We have to be to Taylor's by 5:15. Don't you have to get your hair done or whatever?" He states and Gabriella sighs. She had completely forgotten about the dance and knew that she had to take a shower, and get ready. But she didn't want to go. She wanted to stay by Troy forever.

"I don't want to go." She whispers and Troy stands up and pulls her up too. Still holding hands, they walk over and Troy grabs his gym bag and continues to pull her out of the track. They leave the stadium and walk over to their cars, since Gabriella parked next to him. They stop and turn to face each other. "Where does this leave us now?" She whispers and Troy sighs.

"You deserve a great guy like Nate." Troy says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"Troy, I…" She starts but he shakes his own head.

"Gabi, I care about you too much to let you waste your time with me. Nate is a nice guy. He really likes you and you need to go for that." He says and Gabriella couldn't take it anymore. She let's go of his hand and throws her arms around his neck, finally feeling the tears roll down her face.

"Don't Troy." She whispers and could feel Troy places his hand on the back of her head, intertwined with her hair. She feels him kiss the top of her head and then rest his cheek on hers.

"You'll have an amazing time with him tonight." He whispers in her ear and she shakes her head.

"You don't get it Troy." He pulls away from his chest but keeps her arms around him. She looks up into his eyes trying to get him to understand.

"Gabi, please. He begs and she could feel more tears roll down her face. "I want you to be happy…"

"I'll be happy with you." She says and he closes his eyes. She could see his own tears running down his face.

"You'll be happy with me as a friend." Gabriella could feel her heart break even further as he says this. She knew he was only trying to do what was best for her but he didn't understand that what's best for her was him. "I've put you through too much."

"Troy…"

"Gabi, stop. Please, don't make this harder for me." He says and she watches larger tears slip down his face. She knew she couldn't change his mind. Troy was too headstrong for that. So Gabriella pulls him closer one more time. "Just have an amazing time tonight with him, and I'll be happy."

"Troy." Gabriella then pulls away and Troy places a hand on either side of her cheeks and kisses her forehead. He finally lets go of her and grabs her hand to squeeze it one more time. Tears were streaming down her face as he opens the car door and looks at her once more. They're hands stay connected for as long as possible and then finally disconnect. She watches as he turns on the engine and puts it in gear, tears streaming down his face.

"Bye Gabi." He says and backs up. She continues to watch the white truck roll away until she couldn't see it anymore before getting into her own car. She knew, at that moment, that tonight wasn't about having fun. Tonight, she had to convince Troy that she wouldn't be happy without him. Tonight, it would be about getting Troy back. And she wasn't going to take no for an answer.


	27. Pictures and Dinner

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter is boring but I got to get you set up for the dance. Thanks so much for reading and reviews are great!

* * *

Troy sprays cologne on his body and looks in the mirror. He plays with the front part of his hair and sighs. His hair was how it normally looked; he was wearing a grey shirt with a black tie and black pants. He rests his hands on the bathroom counter and tries to stall time. There was no way he wanted to go tonight. Not after he just directed Gabriella into Nate's arms. He looks up at his reflection in the mirror. He knew he did the right thing though. She would be so much happier with Nate. Nate was the better guy between the two of them. Troy had his shot, and he blew it. The only thing Troy ever wanted was what was best for Gabriella, and right now that meant he had to suck it up and watch her be happy with someone other than himself.

He sighs and walks out of the bathroom and down the stairs where his parents were trying to find the digital camera. "I thought I saw it over here…" Troy hears his mom say and chuckles a little. The plan was to get to Taylor's for pictures at 5:15, then go to the restaurant at 6:15. And then go to the dance that started at 7:30, but everyone came late so it didn't matter that they'd probably show up later. Then, at 11:30 the dance would end and everyone would head over to Chad's to sleepover. Troy looks up at the clock and sees it's 5:00 already. "I found it!" His mother yells and he laughs as he finishes walking down the stairs.

"We should probably get going." His dad says and looks up at Troy. His mom does also and sighs and walks over to him. She squeezes him into a hug that almost chokes him and Troy looks over at his father who was laughing.

"Oh honey, you look so handsome." She says and finally lets go. "You're last homecoming ever." She says and covers her mouth. Troy rolls his eyes and smiles.

"It's no big deal mom, really." He says and his father pats him on the back.

"Should we go?" He says and Troy nods. They all head out the door and Troy gets into his truck while his parents get into his dad's car. His parents follow him since they had no idea where Taylor lived. Troy's mind was racing the whole time. He knew he had to apologize to everyone else before he took any step further. But his mind was warped around something else. Would it be awkward tonight with Gabriella? He knew that Nate would be all over her, would he be able to stand watching them? What if Nate asked Gabriella out tonight and she said yes?

He finally sees the somewhat large house and parks behind what he knew as Zeke's car and gets out. He walks over to where his parents were also getting out and begin to walk up a small hill that led to the house. Troy could hear people talking so he figures they could just walk around to the back. He smiles as he sees the back of Chad and everyone turns around. "Troy!"

Troy looks from one person to another, Jason, Kelsi, Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Nate, and Chloe. What was going on? The last time he saw them he was a complete asshole. Why was everybody so happy to see him? He smiles once he sees Chloe standing next to Taylor with a smile on her face. She looked beautiful. Her dress made her glow and her hair was pulled all the way up in curls. He smiles at her and walks over. She smile back and pulls him into a hug. Everyone looks at him and he looks back to find all the parents talking with one another out of ear shot. Chloe lets go of him and beams up. "You look incredible." He says and she smiles even harder.

"Thanks. You don't look bad yourself." She says and Troy nods. He looks from everyone's face and sighs, knowing what he had to do next.

"Look, guys I'm sorry about how I've been acting lately. I've been a real jerk and I hope you guys can forgive me." He says and looks over making sure that the parents were out of earshot. Chad smiles and pats him on the back.

"Dude, it's ok, as long as you're back to normal, everything's cool. Besides, Gabs already told Taylor, who told like everyone else." He says and Troy nods, thankful that this made everything a lot easier. "Good to have you back dude." He smiles but still sees Nate's head looking at the ground. Everyone starts talking again and he walks over to where he was standing off to the side and Nate's head looks up.

"Hey." He says and Nate looks at him surprised and a little intimidated. Troy could understand, he had acted like a complete jerk.

"Uh… hi Troy." He says nervously and Troy sighs. As much as he didn't want to do this, he knew that he had to.

"Look, Nate, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you last week and I'm really sorry I was a jerk. Gabriella didn't belong to me and you had full rights to her. I'm sorry." He says and watches as Nate smiles.

"It's ok. I'm sorry too. I thought that you were going with Bridget, so I thought it would be ok. I never…" He starts but Troy puts his hand up.

"Dude, no. Like I said, Gabriella doesn't belong to me. I know you'll have an amazing time with her tonight. Cuz she's an amazing girl." He says and watches Nate's smile grow.

"Yea, she is." He says and Troy tries not to show how he was feeling upset that Nate said this. He smiles and the two guys walk back over to find that Martha, Ryan, and Sharpay had shown up. He looks over to recognize Mr. Evans and smiles as he waves over to Troy. He waves back and turns his attention back to his friends.

"So, all we're missing is…" But she doesn't have to say it. Troy feels the atmosphere change and he turns around to see what looked like something that stepped out from one of his dreams.

Gabriella and her mom came walking up the small hill and Troy's eyes went wide. Her gold dress fit her curves perfectly and her skin seemed to glow in it. She was wearing gold shoes and was holding a small gold clutch. Her hair was half pinned back with strands on the sides to frame her face. Her ears held earrings that dangled with two dimonds hanging at the bottom. Her make up was applied perfectly, with a shimmery gold eye shadow and heavier eyeliner than what she normally had. Troy couldn't take his eyes off her. She walks smoothly up to the group and looks up at Troy to see his eyes wide and gives him a soft smile. But the gaze was broken when Nate steps forward and pulls her into a hug and Troy hears him say. "Wow… you look amazing."

"Thank you." She says softly but keeps her eyes on Troy as he looks sadly at the two. They pull apart and all of the girls run forward to give Gabriella a hug all telling her how amazing she looked. Troy wanted so desperately to run over to her and tell her everything he said this morning about her being with Nate was bullshit and kiss her right there. But he knew he couldn't do that. She would be so much happier with Nate, and he knew it.

"We should start taking pictures." Sharpay says, obviously wanting to be infront of the camera. But everyone agrees and walks over to where the parents were standing and all of the guys line up in between two oak trees, with Jason and Nate in the middle, since they were the shortest of the guys and Troy on the other side of Jason, and Chad on the other side of Nate. The parents take a couple huge group pictures and then a couple with just the girls, and another with just the guys. "I want a picture with just Zeke." Sharpay exclaims and that seems to the cue for every couple to split up and take pictures alone. Troy walks over to where Chloe was standing and smiles.

"Oh, you mean I have to take a picture with you?" She jokes and Troy laughs.

"Come here." He says and puts an arm around here and smiles brightly at the camera. The Boltons, and Mr. Roberts, since her mom wasn't there for some reason that Troy didn't know, and take a couple pictures. Troy looks over at Gabriella and Nate who were both smiling brightly at the camera and feels a pain in his heart. He looks back down at Chloe who gives him a reassuring smile as if knowing what he was thinking. "Oh, I got something for you." He says and walks over to his mother to grab a small white box. Chloe does the same, grabbing a white box from her father. They meet in the center and Troy pulls out the blue corsage that matches her dress perfectly. They snap a couple pictures of him putting it on her wrist and then Chloe pulls out the boutonnière and Troy takes a step backward. "No way, I'm not letting you poke a hole into my chest."

Chloe laughs and grabs his arm. "Here, I'm an expert at this." She says and quickly pins the white flower onto his shirt and Troy looks down at it smiling,

"Wow, I'm impressed." He says and Chloe smiles.

"Good. You wanna take pictures with Chad and Taylor?" She and he nods, walking over to his best friend and Chad's girlfriend. They snap a couple pictures with Chloe and Taylor in the middle and Troy and Chad on the outside. Then, Troy and Chad take pictures by themselves while Taylor and Chloe do the same. Once finished, he and Chloe take pictures with Ryan and Martha, Jason and Kelsi, and then Sharpay and Zeke. After, he has a small conversation with Mr. Evans about the U of A basketball team; suddenly he looks over to see Chloe trying to get his attention.

"What do you want now?" He jokes after shaking hands with Mr. Evans and watches her smile softly.

"I want pictures with Gabriella and Nate." She says and Troy sighs and nods. He walks over keeping his eyes on Gabriella who was looking back at him and stops in front of them. Troy goes behind Chloe and Nate behind Gabriella. He feels a pang of jealousy as he watches Nate place his arm around her, but tries to suck it up and smiles at the camera. After taking longer than what he would have liked, they finally stop and Chloe smiles up at him.

"I'm going to go take some with just Ryan." She says and Troy nods. He looks up to see Gabriella say something to Nate and then turn around and walk shyly over to where Troy was standing.

"Hey." She says softly and Troy thought he heard angels sing. He couldn't get over how incredible she looked, and he just wanted to throw his arms around her right here.

"You look… you… God I don't even know how to describe how beautiful you look." He says in a soft voice to match hers and she beams up at him after he says this.

"Thank you, you look great too. Can we do one with just the two of us?" She ask and Troy smiles and nods. They call their parents over, all three of them beaming at the site of the two.

Troy first places his hand around her waist and she does the same around him. He then pulls her closer to him and she places a hand on his chest and beams up at the camera. She then turns around and Troy feels shivers go down his back as he wraps his arms around her waist and she pushes her back up against his chest. He looks down at her and she looks up at him and Troy swears he sees a flash off in the distance, but he doesn't take his eyes off of her. She was breath taking, and he wanted her all to himself. But it wouldn't work. He didn't deserve her. She was way to perfect for him.

Suddenly, he tears his eyes away from Gabriella's to find that Chad and Taylor were walking over, hand in hand. "Finally, we need one of the fantastic four." Chad says and Gabriella and Troy look at him and raise an eyebrow each.

"The WHAT?" They both say at the same time and all four of them laugh. Taylor stands next to Gabriella and the two girls face each other while Troy stands behind Gabriella and places and arm around her and Chad does the same to Taylor. After taking a few more of the four, they look to find the rest of the group standing watching and Troy immediately removes his arm from Gabriella, trying not to give Nate the wrong impression. She looks sad for a moment but then all four walk over to where the rest of the group was.

"We should get going." Kelsi says and everyone nods. Troy's mom and dad walk over to him and smile. The sky suddenly gets a little darker and Troy remembers Gabriella telling him a storm was coming tonight. He turns back to his mother again.

"Be good, alright?" She says and Troy rolls his eyes. "Bye sweetheart."

He waves at both of them and then walks over to where Chloe had just hugged her dad. "You ready?" He asks and she nods. He takes her arm and leads her to his truck while he could see the rest of the couples were doing the same. They hop into Troy's truck and then drive off to the restaurant that the girls had picked out. Once arriving, Troy takes her arm again and the group gets seated immediately. Troy sits down with Chad on his left and Chloe on his right. He watches Gabriella as she sits down next to Taylor and sighs when he watches Nate sit next to her on the other side. The waiter hands them menus and they all start looking.

"I want everything." Chad plainly stats and the whole group laughs.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Troy says rolling his eyes and Chad hits him on the head with his menu. "Oww that hurt." Troy looks over the menu and looks down at Chloe. "You can get whatever you want." He says and Chloe laughs.

"Ok, I want the caviar." She jokes and Troy places his head in his hands.

"Ok, let's try this again. You can get whatever you want that's NOT gonna cost me over a hundred dollars." They laugh and the waiter comes to bring them the drinks they ordered earlier on the table. They all order, Chloe getting the salmon, Troy getting a steak along with most of the guys and he smiles when he heard Gabriella say that she wanted the manicotti. He knew that was her favorite food. The waiter leaves and suddenly he hears a loud group coming in and his eyes suddenly grow wide as he picks up his empty plate and puts it in front of his face.

"What's wrong?" Chloe asks which gets the whole table to look at him and he doesn't make a noise but points to the door. Standing there, in a neon short dress was Bridget and the captain on the football team with their arms linked. Everyone knew that he had asked her on Wednesday because he and his girlfriend had just broken up a couple days before and Bridget still didn't have a date. He looks over his plate a little to see Gabriella trying to suppress giggles along with everyone else at the table and he stands up keeping his head down.

"I'm going to the bathroom." He mumbles and turns around but suddenly hears a high piercing shriek. He closes his eyes and suddenly feels to arms being thrown around him.

"Troy!" Bridget exclaims and Troy stands there not hugging her back. His whole table was trying to keep their laughs in but it wasn't working too well. He gives them a dirty look and she lets go. "I didn't know you were coming here!"

Troy scratches the back of his neck and looks at the table again trying to find away out of talking to her. "Yea…" He simply states and looks over her shoulder to find her date, Jackie, Gretchen and their dates standing off to the side. Jackie gives him a wink and Troy looks at her disgusted. How the hell did he ever place his tongue on her body?

"Come on, you should come eat with me." She says, completely ignoring the fact that he was with another group. He watches as the whole table couldn't control their laughter much longer and Chloe finally stands up, still giggling.

"Actually, Bridget, Troy is eating with us. Because he's my date." She says and places her arm on his shoulder protectively and Troy smiles. Bridget looks like she had just been slapped, but then sighs angrily.

"Fine. I'll just see you at the dance Troy." She says and gives him a wink. He shudders and sits back down, everyone suddenly laughing hysterically and Troy goes to stand up again.

"Excuse me I have to go throw up now." He says and Chad shakes his head and places a hand on his shoulder, sitting him back down.

"Dude, you threw up enough last night for the past two day." Troy rolls his eyes and is thankful when the waiter finally comes with their food. They eat, happily talking about everything with the mood light. But Troy and Gabriella kept sneaking glances through out the whole dinner. He watches with pain in his eyes as Nate places his hand on her arm, or gives her a hug, or she laughs at something he says. But Troy knew he had to let her go. It was what was best for her and he had to suck it up.

Finally, after dessert, they get the bill and the guys all pay. Taylor then looks at the clock on the wall and smiles. "It's 7:30 and it takes twenty minutes to get back. We should head out." The gang all gets up and Troy hears Bridget call his name from across the room, but he completely ignores her. They walk outside into the night where the wind had suddenly picked up.

"Man, it's gonna come down hard." Zeke says looking up at the sky and everyone agrees.

"It better hold out til we get to the dance. Do you know how much I paid for this hair?" Sharpay says and everyone rolls their eyes once again.

"She's right though, we should get going." Kelsi states and they all run out to the cars, the girls trying to avoid the wind so their hair wouldn't fall out. Troy gives one last sad look at Nate opening the door for Gabriella and he climbs in. The car starts and he sees a faint crack of lightning off in the distance.

"Hey… don't sweat it. She still likes you." Chloe says with a smile and Troy pulls out of the parking lot.

"That's the problem. She deserves someone like him." He says and Chloe places a hand on his arm.

"Troy, she doesn't want him, she wants you." She simply states and Troy shakes his head.

"It doesn't matter. She'll be happier with him. But let's not worry about that. You're my date and we're going to party." He says as he turns up the radio and lets the base echo throughout the truck. He sees another crack of lightning and sighs, knowing it was going to be a long and painful night.


	28. Just So You Know

**Author's Note: **I really hope you guys like these next two chapters. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

* * *

Gabriella looks at Nate who smiles at her. "You ready?" He asks and Gabriella nods, quickly grabbing the door handle to his car. It hadn't started raining yet, but Gabriella knew it was coming and really didn't want to be out in the wind that the moment. "GO!" Nate yells and she quickly opens the door and starts running, but finds it extremely difficult because she was wearing high heels. She suddenly feels Nate grab her arm and help her along up the stairs and into the entrance of the high school and quick shut the door. Jason, Kelsi, Sharpay, Zeke, Ryan and Martha were all standing there while she and Nate were laughing extremely hard. "Well… that was fun!" He says and quickly gives Gabriella a hug. She smiles, knowing that Nate was a great guy. But he wasn't the guy for her. All through out dinner, she sat there thinking of how badly she wanted to switch places with Chloe. All she wanted was to be by Troy's side and he wouldn't have her. But that had to change tonight. Homecoming changed everything. The doors suddenly open and she smiles as Troy and Chloe come in panting and laughing just like she and Nate were a couple of minutes ago. A sudden pang of jealousy rises in her body, but she pushes it away, knowing that they were just going as friends.

"Shit I thought I was gonna be blown away." Troy says and everyone laughs. The doors swings open one more time and Taylor and Chad come in, acting the same way as the other two previous couples had.

"Damn, it's like a fucking tornado out there." Chad jokes and everyone laughs one more time. They all look at each other and Chad straightens his shirt out a little. Gabriella and Troy make eye contact and she smiles at him, but he looks sadly back at her. "Alright, I'm ready, let's dance!" He says and grabs Taylor's hand and starts to lead her to the gym, but Taylor drags him in the opposite direction.

"Not til I get these heels off." She says and all of the girls sigh in relief except Sharpay who was used to them.

"Hallelujah sister!" Chloe exclaims and they all start walking toward their lockers. Gabriella opens her own and places her small gold clutch in there, staring at it for a moment, knowing what was inside. She looks at her mirror to find she looked exactly the way she did as she left the house a few hours ago. She touches her bare neck, and sighs. She had purposefully not put a necklace on, because the one she wanted to wear was hidden in her clutch, and she prayed by the end of the night, it would return to its rightful place on her neck. She slips the yellow flowers off of her wrist and turns to Nate who was standing behind her.

"Do you need to put anything in here?" She asks and he shakes his head. She nods and finally takes her heels off, feeling the relief in her feet and throws them into her locker. She then shuts the door and looks down the hallway to find that Troy and Chloe were making their way back to the group. Gabriella and Nate start to head over to the same place and she feels Nate link his arm with her own. It didn't feel right. When Troy always touched her, she felt shivers that she didn't feel now. It was just too different.

"Now can we go?" Chad asks and all of the girls nod. They hurry off down the stairs and find Mr. Guerrero standing at the doorway.

"Hello guys. I need to see tickets." He says cheerfully and Nate pulls out his wallet and grabs the two yellow tickets.

"Shit…" She hears behind her and turns around to find Troy's eyes wide, looking through his wallet. She looks at him confused as he looks at Chloe. "I forgot the tickets."

Chloe's eyes grow wide along with Gabriella's. No, he had to come. She couldn't stand the night with him not being there. But a grin grows on his face as he reaches inside his black pants pocket and pulls out the tickets. "Just kidding."

Both Chloe and Gabriella sigh in relief and Chloe hits his arm angrily. "Don't scare me like that Bolton." She says and Troy playfully places his arm around her. Gabriella feels herself stare at them sadly and then feels a soft touch on her arm.

"Gabs, come on." Nate says and Gabriella nods and enters the gym. The decorations looked amazing and most of the lights were turned off. There were a few strobe lights and other multicolored ones but it was pretty dark. The music was pumping through the speakers as her and Nate walked in with their arms linked. Troy and Chloe follow in close behind and they all stand there for a moment, looking at their surroundings. Most of the school was in the middle of the gym, dancing already. She hears a noise come from behind her and she realizes another group had entered the gym.

"Kyle!" Troy exclaims and the boy Gabriella knew as the freshman walks over to Troy and removes his hand from his date's arm and gives Troy a hug. She recognizes the girl as one of the freshman who she was fond of, named Katie. Troy talks to him for a couple minutes and everyone decides to walk further into the gym, figuring he and Chloe would catch up. Nate grabs Gabriella's hand and she feels slightly awkward. His hand didn't fit perfectly with hers the way Troy's did. But she lets him lead her toward the front where the rest of the seniors were dancing.

"Gabriella!" Both Shannon and Mandy come running and hug her. She smiles as their date walk over as well and they say hi to Nate. "Oh Gabs, you look so pretty." Shannon says and Gabriella smiles.

"Thanks, you guys look great too." She says and suddenly catches Mandy look Nate up and down for a moment. But she forgets about it as Nate places a hand around her waist.

"You wanna dance?" He asks and she looks back to see Chad and Taylor, Zeke and Sharpay, and Jason and Kelsi already grinding. Gabriella nods and Nate places both arms around her and they catch their rhythm. She looks up as Chloe and Troy make their way through the crowd and everyone all of the sudden yells, "TROY!" She laughs as he's bombarded with other people, especially girls who wanted to dance with him, but he grabs Chloe's hand and leads her closer to their friends. Chloe was standing next to her and Gabriella looks up to find Troy staring at Nate and her sadly. She tries to give him an apologetic look, but he turns away and looks down at Chloe.

"I think you should dance with me." Gabriella hears him say and Chloe pretends to be thinking for a moment. Gabriella then just realizes how good of friends the two were, and doesn't even feel jealous when Troy wraps his arms around her waist and they start moving to the rhythm along with everyone else.

About and hour later, Gabriella looks over to see that Ryan was by himself. For the past twenty minutes, Martha had gone to do her own thing which everyone was insanely jealous for, but she left Ryan by himself. Gabriella turns around in Nate's arms and looks up at him. He looked extremely happy, which she was glad. If only she could feel the same way. "Hey, would it be alright if I danced with Ryan? He looks a little lonely."

Nate looks over her shoulder at Ryan and smiles. "Of course." He says and removes his arms from her waist. She smiles at him once more then walks over to where Ryan was standing and grins. "Hey Ry."

He smiles brightly at her. "Hey Gabs! Where's Nate?"

Gabriella looks back to find Nate had already found a replacement for her in Mandy and she turns back to Ryan. "He's letting me dance with you! If you want to I mean…" She says and he grabs her hand.

"It would be my pleasure." He says and she turns around to place her back up to his front. She looks over to find that Zeke and Sharpay were making out while dancing. She rolls her eyes and finds Chad and was getting into it and Chloe and Troy were just goofing around. She could see Jason and Kelsi not dancing as hardcore as everyone else but they still looked like they were having a good time. Gabriella sighs as she realizes how happy everyone else was, while she wasn't. Sure she was having fun, but she wanted to be with Troy so badly it was starting to eat her up.

"So having fun?" She asks as she looks up at Ryan and he nods.

"Yea, I am. But you know, I love dancing with you and everything, but I kind of wish someone else would take notice." He says and she smiles.

"You have a crush! Oh my god who is it?" She asks and he smiles down at her softly.

"Let's put it this way. I think we would both be happy if Troy and I switched places right now." Gabriella's eyes grow wide and she smiles brightly at him.

"Oh my god, you like Chloe!" She exclaims and watches him blush a little. She smiles even brighter think of how perfect the two would be together.

"Please don't say anything." He says and Gabriella nods in understanding. She grins up at him once more and the song ends. She looks up to see Chloe loosen from Troy's grip and Troy finds a cheerleader take her place. Gabriella, jealous that he was now dancing with a cheerleader, hides it and turns around to smile up at Ryan.

"Go ask her to dance." She says and Ryan shakes his head.

"No, I don't want her to say no." He says and Gabriella smiles.

"She won't. Go get'em." She says and he gives her a big hug, then she watches as Ryan leans down toward Chloe and Chloe's smile becomes huge. She backs up into Ryan's arms and he gives Gabriella a large smile. She stands there lonely for a moment before she feels arms wrap around her once again and turns around to see Nate standing there. She gives him a half hearted smile and then looks over sadly at Troy, who seemed to be getting into it with the cheerleader.

"Having fun?" Nate asks her and she nods, but doesn't answer him. In reality, right now she was being torn up inside.

"Are you?" She asks and Nate smiles down at her. The song suddenly changes to a slower tempo Gabriella puts her arms around Nate's neck.

"Yea. I'm having a great time." Gabriella looks back over at Troy, and suddenly feels a huge wave of jealousy, to replace the cheerleader he was just dancing with; Troy now had his arms around Bridget who had her head on his chest. He looked bored and disgusted, but that didn't stop Gabriella to feel jealous.

"You really miss him huh?" Nate says and Gabriella's head shoots back to his eyes. Did he just say what she thought he said?

"Nate… I'm having a great time with you." She says not answering his question and looks down.

"Gabriella, I am too. But I can tell you really want to be over there. So go. Please. I want you to. Besides, I think I've found someone else too." He says and looks up over her shoulder. She turns around and sees Mandy looking up at him and smiling too. Gabriella smiles and he looks back down at her. "The whole school knows you two belong together. So please, I'm asking you as my date, to go have the time of your life with the guy you really want to be with."

Gabriella suddenly feels tear well up in her eyes. "Thank you. Not many guys would do that. Nate, trust me, if there wasn't a Troy… then maybe…" She starts but he shakes his head. The song changes from slow to fast and they both let go of each other.

"It doesn't matter because there is a Troy." He says and smiles at her. "Good luck." He says and Gabriella smiles. She hugs him and kisses his cheek, thinking of how amazing Nate was, and then they both walk more toward the center of the gym. Nate keeps going and she smiles as he replaces Mandy's date and puts his arms around her, both of them smiling. Gabriella then takes a deep breath and turns to look at Troy, who was staring at her and walks over.

"What do you want?" Bridget says as she sees her and Gabriella looks up into Troy's eyes.

"Bridget, why don't you go back to your date?" Troy says and lets go of Bridget's body quickly. She glares at both of them then stomps off angrily. Troy walks over to where Gabriella was standing. Both of them maintain eye contact but Gabriella could tell everyone had gone back to grinding again. "Where's Nate?" He asks and Gabriella looks over to see Mandy and Nate dancing happily. Troy's eyes follow hers and then they return to one another.

"He told me to go dance with you." She says softly and he sighs and scratches the back of his neck.

"Gabi… I don't think it's a good idea." He says and Gabriella's face falls a little. She knew that Troy wasn't trying to hurt her, but it was only because he didn't want to get attached to her now. Damn him for trying to be the unselfish guy.

"Please?" She whispers and looks up at him with pleading eyes. He looks back down at her and sighs. He grabs her waist and spins her around, backing her up to his chest. A smile forms on her face and they catch rhythm. Shivers run down her spine as Troy snakes his arms around her waists and grabs each of her hands, lacing their fingers. This felt right. Neither Ryan nor Nate had felt this good. But Troy wasn't getting into it. He was stiff and Gabriella could tell. She had to find a way to loosen him up. To make him break down his wall. Two songs go by and Gabriella was trying to do everything she could to get him to loosen up but it wasn't working. But finally, the answer to her prayers comes onto the speakers. The base starts pumping; the whole school starts screaming and then the lyrics start.

_Bada dum dum dum---dum da da da da dum  
Bada dum dum dum---dum da da da da dum  
Bada dum dum dum---dum da da da da dum  
Bada dum dum dum---dum da da da da dum _

_3,6,9 standing real fine move it to you sing it to me one mo time_

_Get low, Get low, Get low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low_

"Get Low" was Troy's favorite song and she knew it. It was the song he always listened to on his ipod before a game to pump it up. Suddenly, Troy drops his hips and begins to move back and forth behind her harder.

_To the window, to the wall, (to dat wall)  
To the sweat drip down and fall (fall)  
To all these females crawl (crawl)  
To all skit skit skit skit skit skit  
all skit skit, got, i got what?  
To all skit skit skit skit skit skit  
all skit skit, got, i got what?_

The whole school screams the chorus, pointing to the gym window on the door leading outside and then to one of the walls. But Gabriella and Troy were oblivious to it. Troy's hands let go of her own and grabs the front of her hips and pulls her closer to him. She smiles when she hears him pant in her ear and she snakes a hand up his chest and wraps it around the back of his neck, forcing him to look down at her.

_Shortie crunk so fresh so clean can she cut that Question been harassing me  
In the mind this girl is fine  
I done came to the club about 50th 11 times  
now can I play with yo panty line  
club owner said I need to calm down security guard go to sweating me now  
Pa drunk then a maaaaf threaten me now_

She smiles as she hears Troy sing the lyrics into her ear and she looks up at him to see he had his eyes closed. She returns her head back and at "can I play with yo panty line" suddenly feels his hands drop lower, and she suddenly feels herself become turned on. "Troy." She moans and he responds by nipping on her ear.

_She getting crunk in the club I mine she work  
Then I like to see the female twerking taking the clothes off OOH she naked  
ATL. sorry donâ€™t disrespect it  
Pa pop yo thang like this  
cause yin yang twins in this  
Lil Jon and the East side boys wit me and we all like to see Jig o-B  
Now bring yo'self over here girl and let me see you get low if you want this Thug  
Now take it to the floor (to the floor) and if yo wanta act you can keep yo self where you at_

_3,6,9 standing real fine move it to you sing it to me one mo time_

_Get low, Get low, Get low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low_

Each time they say "get low" Gabriella and Troy move closer to the ground, pushing their bodies up against each other in the process.

_To the window, to the wall, (to dat wall)  
To the sweat drip down and fall (fall)  
To all these females crawl (crawl)  
To all skit skit skit skit skit skit  
all skit skit, got, i got what?  
To all skit skit skit skit skit skit  
all skit skit, got, i got what?_

"Gabi." He moans into her ear and she responds by turning her head around and kisses his jaw line. He closes his eyes and she suddenly feels something hard against her and smiles when she realizes she was driving him crazy just as much as he was driving her.

_Let me see you get low you scared you, scared you  
Drop dat BODY to the floor you scared you, scared you  
Let me see you get low you scared you, scared you  
Drop dat body to the floor you scared you, scared you  
Drop dat butt ya shake it fast ya  
Pop dat body to the left and the right ya  
Drop dat body ya shake it fast ya  
Pop dat ass to the left and the right ya  
Now back,back,back it up  
a back,back,back it up  
a back,back,back it up  
a back,back,back it up  
Now stop ( O) then wiggle wit ya  
Now stop ( O) then wiggle wit ya  
Now stop ( O) then wiggle wit ya  
Now stop ( O) then wiggle wit ya_

_3,6,9 standing real fine move it to you sing it to me one mo time_

_Get low, Get low, Get low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low, Get Low_

Troy leans over and begins to gently suck on her neck. She feels her back arch to him but he tightens his grip on her to keep her closer to him. She feels him graze her sensitive spot and feels sparks shoot down through out her body. The rest of the song plays, Troy still attacking her neck and then finally it was over. Everyone screams again and Troy finally moves his head up and looks down at Gabriella.

She smiles up at him and then feels him turn her in his arms because suddenly "Just So You Know" by Jesse McCartney starts to echo throughout the gym. She wraps her arms around his neck and he places his own on her lower back. She looks up in his eyes and places her head onto his chest, knowing this was where she belonged. "Oh Troy." She says and then brings her head back up to look at him.

_I shouldn't love you but I want to  
I just can't turn away  
I shouldn't see you but I can't move  
I can't look away_

"Did I ever mention to you how beautiful you look?" He says and she feels a smile creep onto her face. She nods and looks back up into his eyes. Everything that had happened these past couple weeks seemed to fade away and she leans up to finally share their first kiss. She watches as he closes his eyes and leans in, but then she suddenly feels him push her off of him with wide eyes.

"Troy?" She asks in a quiet voice and watches as he runs a hand through his hair and looks down at her with tears in his eyes.

"I can't do this." He whispers once again. "You deserve someone better." He says and to Gabriella's horror, turns around and makes his way through the crowd toward the doors. Gabriella feels tears stream down her face as her heart finally breaks. She knew all he wanted was for her to be happy but she needed him. The tears ran faster and she feels her body start to tremble. He was leaving her once again. She suddenly feels hands on her shoulders and looks up into Chad's face.

"It's over." She whispers as the tears fall faster and Chad violently shakes his head.

"Do you love him?" He asks and Gabriella feels her heart break even further.

"Yes." She whispers and Chad points to the door.

"Then you will get your ass outside and stop him. Because if you don't, then you'll loose him forever." Gabriella looks toward the door. This was it, time to make a decision. She had to choose between her heart breaking forever if he rejected her again or watching as he walked out of her life. Gabriella watches as Troy walks out of the gym doors and makes her finally decision, knowing what she had to do.

Gabriella suddenly starts sprinting toward the door to stop the love of her life.


	29. Kissing in the Rain

**Author's Note:** I got this idea from One Tree Hill, but the words are mine. I hope you guys like it!

* * *

Gabriella busts out of the gym doors and looks from left to right. She grabs the bottom of her dress and sprits toward the stairs and takes two steps at a time. She had to catch him before he left, otherwise it would be too late. She reaches the top and then races down the hallway. What if he left already? What if he was driving away at this very moment? What if she was too late? She finally sees the doors of the entrance and pushes them open to see a figure walking down the steps quickly. "TROY! TROY STOP!" A roll of thunder echoes across the sky and Gabriella runs down the first flight of steps to watch Troy turn around.

"Go back to the dance Gabriella." A crack of lightning illuminates the sky and she could see tears streaming down Troy's face.

"Not until you come with me!" She yells back and watches as he runs a hand through his hair. She had to get through to him otherwise she knew they would never have another chance.

"Don't make this harder for me!" He yells back, his voice cracking. "Please, just go back!"

She feels tears well up in her eyes. "I can't go back Troy. I'm not going to go back without you!" She yells and feels a raindrop on her shoulder. It was going to rain, and her hair and makeup and dress would be ruined, but it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was getting Troy back. She runs down the second flight of stairs and meets him at the bottom, although they were still about five yards away from each other.

"You deserve better than me Gabi. Nate can give that to you!" He yells and she could see tears streaming down his face.

"When are you going to understand that I don't want Nate, Troy! I want you! I always have and I always will!" She yells and he shakes his head.

"We can't be together Gabriella." He simply states and suddenly the wind picks up.

"Why not?" She yells and suddenly sees a crack of lightning.

"You're smart and beautiful and perfect. I struggle to get an A in class, get pissed off and acting like a bastard and hurt you every fucking time we get close!" He yells and suddenly the rain comes down in heavy sheets but Gabriella doesn't move. She could barely see Troy through it so she takes a couple steps forward. "The whole school was against us last year and I don't want to hurt you anymore! That's why we can't be together!" He yells over the rain and Gabriella can feel her hair begin to stick to her face. Troy's tears were mixing with the rain and Gabriella could feel her own tears mixing as well. She takes another step forward.

"I don't care!" She yells back and shakes her head.

"I do! I don't want to hurt you anymore." He says and she walks toward him so she was only a foot away from him.

"You're hurting me now!" She says and he shakes his head.

"Gabi, no. It's not the same. I'll just break your heart all over again." Troy states and Gabriella feels the tears run faster down her face and another roll of thunder goes. His hair was sticking to his head and Gabriella was so close to him that she could see the small water drops collecting on his eyelashes, but she wasn't sure if they were from the rain or his tears.

"Troy, I gave you my heart the moment we sang karaoke together last year during Christmas break. Yea, you broke it this summer, but only you can put it back together." She tries to convince him but he closes his eyes.

"Gabi, please. We need to be just friends." He says forcefully and thunder rolls in the sky.

"Don't you get it Troy? WE CAN'T JUST BE FRIENDS!" She screams and watches him through the rain.

"Why the hell would you want to be with me?" He asks as though it was rhetorical but Gabriella feels the tears stream down her face again.

"Because you kiss my forehead and tell me everything's going to be alright when I'm upset!" She says and throws her hands up in the air to add for the effect. "Because you take me on picnics on golf courses or have late night swimming sessions that threaten our jobs." She looks up into his eyes. "Because you sang with me last year even though your friends were against it. Because even when you get drunk off your ass, you're still the most amazing thing in the world…Because…" She sighs and shakes her head, almost believing she had finally lost him. "Because…" But she looks up into his eyes once more and sees how bloodshot they were from all of the tears, but how beautiful they still looked. "Because I've probably just ruined my dress, my hair and my make up and I'm probably going to get pneumonia!" She pauses and feels her bottom lip start to tremble. "But if I have to give you reasons why I want to be with you… I'd stay out here all night."

A flash of lightning fills the sky and Gabriella feels Troy grab her arm and pull her to him. He crashes his lips onto hers and they both open their mouths at the exact same time, letting their tongues begin to explore the other's mouth. Gabriella wraps her arms around Troy's neck and feels sparks shoot though her whole body. He picks her wet body up slightly and she hangs on tightly, never wanting to let her go. She feels the tears run down her face faster as she realizes that this was finally the kiss she had always dreamed of. Troy grabs the back of her head, intertwining his fingers with her wet hair. He finally puts her down and they slowly break apart, both panting. Troy leans his forehead against hers. "Gabi... I… wow." He manages to get out and Gabriella keeps her arms around the back of his neck. Another crack of lightning strikes and Troy looks up. "Let's get somewhere dry." He says and takes her hand, leading her back up the steps. Even though both of them were already soaked, they both quickly run to get out of the pouring rain.

They finally manage to get overhead leading into the school but were still outside. Troy laughs a little and pulls her to him again, connecting their lips once more. She feels the sparks shoot down her body again and then he pulls apart, resting his forehead on hers once more. She smiles brightly. "I'm not letting you go again Troy." She says and Troy looks down at the ground as if in thought.

"Then I guess I'll have to stay." He says and connects their lips once again. Gabriella smiles into the kiss and then this time it was her turn to break apart. She grins up at him and he pulls her into a hug. "God I missed you." He says into her ear and she feels tears fall down her face, but this time they were from joy.

"I missed you too." She whispers back and pulls away so she could look into his eyes. They were both smiling brightly; just happy to be in the other's arms once again. "You know, I've waited so long for this." She says and Troy laughs a little.

"Don't worry, so have I." He says and leans down to kiss her… again. Once they pull apart he smiles down at her. "God that never gets old."

She smiles and shakes her head. "Never."

He brings her into a hug and she finally gets the effects of the rain and gets the chills. "You're cold." He says and she shakes her head.

"I'm fine." She responds truthfully. She was fine; in fact she hadn't been this happy in a long time. They stand there for another fifteen minutes, watching the storm in silence, and Gabriella completely forgets about the dance. She was so caught up in just being in Troy's arms that she forgot about everything else that was going on right now. "So, are we an 'us' again?" She asks him and senses him looking down at her, so she looks up to meet his gaze.

"What do you think?" He says with a smiling staring down at her. Gabriella smiles back and looks playfully at him.

"I have no idea… you need to prove it to me!" She jokes and he leans down to kiss her for the fifth time and she smiles as they break apart. "Ok, that answers my question."

He smiles but then suddenly looks serious. "But I don't think we should tell anyone."

Gabriella looks up at him curiously. "Why? Are you embarrassed of me or something?" She asks half jokingly, but was a little concerned. Why would Troy want to keep this a secret? But his eyes grow wide after she says this.

"God, no. Gabi, no. Sorry, I don't think we should tell anyone YET. I just… every time something bad has happened between us it's because other people have intervened. I mean, first Sharpay this summer, then Bridget this fall. I just…" He looks at her with his crystal blue eyes showing his meaning. "I want to do this right. I can't loose you again."

Gabriella nods in understanding. She knew what he was saying and had to admit, she agreed with it. But she couldn't imagine not telling Taylor or Chloe. "Ok, if that's what you want. But I swear, if I find you in the arms of another girl…"

"You'll dump my ass." He finishes but she smiles.

"I was going to say kick your ass." He smiles and kisses her forehead.

"Deal." He says and kinks an eyebrow. "I think we need to kiss on it." Gabriella laughs and leans up to lightly kiss him. After, he takes her hand and opens the door for her. "We should probably get back to the dance." He says and she nods. They walk through the empty dark hallways hand in hand until the reach the bottom of the stairs and could see lights coming through the gym doors.

"One more before we go in?" She begs and he smiles down at her and grabs her face with both of his hands on her cheeks.

"I guess so." He jokes with a smile. They both meet half way, lingering on each other's lips for a moment longer, trying to save the memory, and then reluctantly break apart. "You ready now?" He asks and she sighs playfully.

"I guess." She says and the both let go of each other's hands and walk into the gym once again. Everyone was crowded in the center looking like they were having the time of their lives and Gabriella looks up at the clock. It was 11:10 and the dance ended in twenty minutes. She looks back at her renewed boyfriend and the start to make their way to the front of the school once more.

"OH MY GOD!" She hears Taylor yell and rushes over to her. Gabriella looks up at Troy with scared eyes. Did she know already? It hadn't even been thirty seconds! "You're completely soaked!" She exclaims and the couple exhales a little from relief. She looks back up at Troy who's hair was slightly starting to dry and same with his shirt, but it was starting to wrinkle a little. Then, she looks down at her dress to find it was slightly water stained but still looked ok. Her hands make it to her hair and she feels it was starting to dry, but it didn't have the same shine it did only an hour ago. A smile crosses her face as she realizes it was all worth it. Chad comes up behind his girlfriend and laughs.

"Did you guys decide to jump in a pool or something?" He asks and both Troy and Gabriella laugh.

"Nah, better. Gabi and I got squirt guns hidden in my trunk and had a water fight." He says and looks down at her with a smile, which she returns happily.

"But you guys are ok right?" Chad asks and Gabriella smiles.

"Yea, we're fine. What'd we miss?" She asks trying to avoid the subject of her and Troy and looks around. Zeke and Sharpay were still making out, Jason and Kelsi were dancing to the beat still, but her eyes linger on another couple. Off to the side in their own little world, were Chloe and Ryan who were grinding happily with each other. She secretly thought how they weren't the only couple to get together tonight.

"Bridget's asked us where you were about five times." Taylor looks up at Troy and Gabriella suddenly feels him put his hand on her lower back, in a spot that Taylor and Chad would probably not see. He rolls his eyes and looks disgusted. Gabriella giggles a little.

"Too bad. Ok, we only have like fifteen minutes left, so you need to dance with me." Troy says and she feels his arms slide around her wet back and rest on her hip once again. She smiles as Taylor and Chad look at them confused, but then shrug it off to dance with each other. Chad leans down to kiss Taylor's lips and Gabriella feels a singe of jealousy because she so badly wanted to kiss Troy right there.

They grind through about three fast songs when finally the last song turns slow. Gabriella wraps her arms around Troy's neck and he stares down at her with his crystal blue eyes. She smiles back up at him knowing that her mission was finally completed. "You know, I think this night turned out pretty good." She states and Troy laughs.

"Well I'm glad. And to top everything off, Nate doesn't look too upset." He says and looks over her shoulder. She follows his eyes to see that Nate and Mandy were dancing extremely close together both looking into each other's eyes. Gabriella smiles and turns her attention back to the guy she wanted.

"Everything's perfect." She states and looks back up into Troy's eyes and watches as he smiles. For the rest of the song, they dance in silence staring deeply into each other's eyes, feeling the connection that had been missing for so long. Unexpectly, the music becomes quiet and half of the lights in the gym turn on. Gabriella rips her eyes away from Troy's and squints to get adjusted to the light. Troy removes his arms with and she turns around to find the rest of the gang starting to form a bunch in the center.

"Oh my god, you're wet!" Sharpay states and looks at Gabriella's water stained dress and she rolls her eyes.

"Thank you captain obvious." She says and everyone laughs except for Sharpay who just pouts. Gabriella watches as Chloe and Ryan walk over, hand in hand, both beaming. "There you two are!" She states and Chloe blushes and Ryan looks embarrassed. She feels Troy's body purposefully come up so her back was to his front, but it could pull off as an innocent gesture.

"We should get to Chad's." Taylor simply states, then looks from face to face. "Do we have everyone?" She asks.

"Martha's going with another group." Ryan says but doesn't look too upset about it, since he was holding onto Chloe's hand tightly.

"Let me go find Nate." Gabriella states and turns around to look at Troy. He didn't seem to be hurt by this, and moves out of her way for a moment. She spots Nate over by Shannon, her date, and Mandy and runs over quickly.

"Gabs! I was just looking for you!" He states and runs over. "Did everything work out?"

Gabriella couldn't keep the smile inside and nods. He laughs as well. "I'm sorry I just kind of left you…" She starts but he shakes his head.

"Don't. I had an amazing time too. You were a great date! And don't worry about you leaving." He says with a smile.

"Good. So come on, the gang's waiting." She says pointing to the group that looked like they were all standing around Chloe and Ryan, probably drilling them about if they're going out or not. Nate suddenly looks nervously at her and sighs.

"You can hate me, but I was thinking about going over to Shannon's instead. I'm so sor…" He starts but Gabriella puts her hand up.

"Don't worry about it." She says with a smile. The truth was she was happy. Now, she could dedicate the whole night to the guy she really wanted to be with. "I'm not offended at all. But thanks for a great night."

"Thanks Gabs." They quickly hug and she waves to Mandy and Shannon. Nate then runs over to where Mandy was standing and picks her up and spins her around. Gabriella laughs but then turns around beaming as she sees Troy staring at her. She runs back over and resists the temptation to jump up into his arms.

"He's going to Shannon's." She says and everyone nods. They slowly make their way out the gym and up to the top the stairs. They all walk over to their lockers and get the stuff they had put in there before the dance. Gabriella quickly pulls her cell phone out of her clutch and checks to quick. She puts it back in, forgetting to close it though. The gang walks out to the spot where Troy and Gabriella were not only a half an hour ago and Gabriella finds it suddenly dry. She looks up at her boyfriend and smiles. "You know, I need a ride to Chad's."

Troy looks over at where Chloe and Ryan were still holding hands. "Hey Roberts!" He yells and Chloe looks up at him. "Gabriella's too lazy to walk to Chad's. Do you mind if you drive with the dude standing next to you and I take her lazy ass?" He jokes and Gabriella hits his chest forcefully. "Ow!"

"I think that would be ok." Chloe says with a huge grin. They all head out to the cars and Troy leads Gabriella to his white truck that was fairly wet. She opens the door and sits down. Troy does also and shuts the door. He starts the car and pulls out of the school parking lot, grabbing Gabriella's hand as soon as they leave.

"Now I got fifteen minutes alone with you." He says and she looks at him confused.

"Troy, it only takes ten minutes to get to Chad's from school." She says and Troy looks over at her with a seductive smile.

"I know." He says and kisses her hand. They drive until they reach a block before Chad's and Troy pulls the car over to the side of the road. "And this is where the extra five minutes comes in." He says and leans over, connecting their lips. Gabriella smiles and softly kisses him back. They pull apart and Troy smiles at her. But the both glance at the clock and sigh. Troy turns the keys again, puts the car back into gear, and turns the corner to park in Chad's driveway. He turns to Gabriella once again and looks behind him, then kisses her softly once more.

"Come on." She says and opens the car door. She gets out and remembers her mom had dropped off all of her stuff at Chad's while they were at dinner, along with the other parents. It was dark and Gabriella grabs her clutch but suddenly trips over her own two feet. The contents come out everywhere. "Shit." She murmers and then bends down to everything up.

"Here." Troy says handing her phone to her and she smiles up at him, even though she couldn't see him. She grabs the last of her items and puts them in the bag, then sees the outline of Troy not moving.

"You ok?" She asks and watches as the outline head shoots up.

"Yea… Yea, come on, I'm dying to get out of wet clothes." He says and stands up. Gabriella feels him grab her hand and lead her up the driveway. He smiles down at her and she smiles back up again, knowing that everything that happened tonight turned out perfectly, but thankful that the night wasn't quite over yet.


	30. The After Party

Troy doesn't even bother to ring the doorbell to Chad's house since he practically lived there. He holds the door open for his renewed girlfriend and beams down at her. If there was one thing he could not believe, it was that the love of his life actually took him back. Sure, he knew she deserved better and was dead set against it until that kiss. Once he kissed her, he knew that he couldn't go back. He had never felt anything like that before, not even with Madison. What he felt was his lips connected with hers was pure happiness, and nothing else. Gabriella walks into the house and Troy follows closely behind. She looks around the door to find her duffle bag sitting there, along with Troy's gym bag that he packed before he left the house. They both grab theirs at the same time and Troy leads Gabriella down the stairs which he knew was the basement and suddenly hears laughing.

"FINALLY!" He hears Chad yell and everyone turns around to look at them. Chad and Taylor were already changed out of their clothes from the dance and were both wearing sweats. Chloe was sitting on a chair in Ryan's lap, still wearing her dress and Ryan hadn't changed either. Gabriella and Troy both drop their bags and walk over to where everyone else was sitting. "God, did you get lost or something?" Chad asks and they both shake their heads, not wanting to say what they were really doing.

"Sharpay's in the bathroom upstairs and Zeke is in Chad's room. Jason's in the bathroom down here and I think Kelsi's in the bathroom on the second floor." Chloe says playing with Ryan's hand. Troy smiles at the new couple and tires his hardest not to grab Gabriella's own hand. He suddenly hears the bathroom door open and watches as Jason walks out. "I'll go next." Chloe says and walks into the bathroom. Troy hears footsteps running down the stairs and looks up to see Zeke and Sharpay holding hands and Kelsi following them. That was Troy, Gabriella, and Ryan's cue to go next. Troy and Gabriella grab their stuff and walk up the basement stairs. Ryan immediately goes to the bathroom and the other two quickly hurry up the stairs. Troy wraps his arms around Gabriella's waist, who giggles from his touch.

"Troy!" She whines and then stops in front of the bathroom. "You have to let go of me." She says and Troy puts on his most seductive smile on he could muster.

"Or you could come and change with me…" He says as he pulls her waist with him as he walks backward toward Chad's room which was across the way. She slaps his hands and rolls her eyes.

"So… we have our first kiss and now you're horny all the time?" She asks him even though Troy could see her smile. He shrugs and leans into her face, their lips inches apart.

"Something like that." He whispers and tilts his head a little. She places a hand on his chest and pushes him backward into Chad's room laughing before they could kiss.

"Go change loverboy." She says and shuts the door to the bathroom. Troy rolls his eyes and closes the door to Chad's room and places his stuff on his bed. He finds that Chad had a mirror hanging on his door for some weird reason. Troy finally looks at himself for the first time since he left his house. His hair lay flat on his head but was in pieces because of the rain. His shirt was completely wrinkled and unbuttoned a little so you could see his white wife beater underneath. His tie was loosened so much it was just hanging there, and Troy laughs. He opens his gym bag and grabs a red t-shirt and black basketball shorts.

He quickly changes, thankful that he could get out of the nice clothes, and puts them into his bag. As he sets his pants in, he feels something small but hard on his hand a smirks a little. He digs inside the pant's pocket and transfers the object into his shorts pocket. After grabbing his bag once more, he opens the door to find that Gabriella still hadn't come out of the bathroom yet. He leans up against the wall and finally hears the doorknob turn. Gabriella walks out wearing a tight purple cami and black short shorts. Her hair was high up in a ponytail now and he walks over to her and wraps his arms around her small body. "Come on, let's get going." He says and Gabriella nods. They walk back down into the basement.

"Nice of you guys to show up." Taylor says with a smile. Everyone was out of whatever they were wearing to the dance and were sitting in a circle. Troy walks over and sits down next to Chad, while Gabriella takes a seat next to Taylor. They make eye contact, and Troy knew that she wanted to be by him but they couldn't make the rest of the gang believe that they had gotten together.

"You guys want anything? Troy…vodka?" Chad asks standing up and everyone laughs while Troy gives his best friend a dirty look.

"If I had anymore alcohol, I'm pretty sure my liver would explode." He says and looks at Gabriella again who was giggling.

"I wanna play truth or dare!" Sharpay exclaims and Troy watches as all of the girls roll their eyes.

"Shar, we just played truth or dare at your house like three weeks ago." Taylor says and grabs Chad's hand as soon as he sits down next to her.

"I know." She says and smiles. "But it's so much more fun with the guys." All of the girls nod in agreement and the rest of the guys shrug. What could it hurt right? "Ok, I'll go first." She looks around the group and her eyes stop at one person. "Jason, truth or dare?"

Jason looks nervously at Kelsi who gives him a small nod. "Truth."

Sharpay smiles. "Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?"

Jason looks nervously between Troy, Chad, and Zeke who all had the same looks on their faces. Troy looks over to see that Gabriella was looking at him questionably, but he turns away. "Well… err… there was um…" He looks down at Kelsi who had the same expression as him on. "Hot Kammel."

Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi all start laughing and Troy looks over to see Gabriella and Chloe both looking extremely confused. "Who's that?" Chloe asks and Troy sees Ryan squeeze her hand.

"Ms. Kammel was the freshman health teacher." Kelsi explains after she stops laughing. "She was twenty and was learning how to be a gym teacher, so the school hired her for a semester. She was more like a student though then a teacher."

Jason throws his hands up in defense. "Hey! I wasn't the only one. These three…" Troy feels himself blush a little as Jason points to himself, Chad and Zeke. "Were in love with her too." He looks up to lock eyes with Gabriella, who was laughing. He gives her a dirty look and she rolls her eyes. "She loved Troy the most." Gabriella looks at him curiously and he shrugs.

"I forgot about that, you were her favorite! Man, I remember being so jealous of you." Chad exclaims and shakes his head. Troy rolls his eyes.

"That's because I didn't ask her if she'd give us a real life model of the female human body." Troy adds in and Taylor hits him on the back of the head.

"Ow." He says rubbing his head and Troy rolls his eyes once again. He could hear Gabriella's laugh stand out the most in the room and it made him smile. She blushes when she catches him staring at her. 'God, she's so beautiful.' Troy thinks to himself as the laughter dies down.

"Ok my turn… Chloe. Truth or dare?" Jason asks and Chloe thinks for a moment.

"Dare."

Jason grins a little. "Switch underwear with Sharpay."

"What?!" Both girls yell. "There is no way I'm doing that." Chloe says and Sharpay nods in agreement.

"Fine, then you have to stick your hand in the toilet for five seconds." Jason says and Chloe sighs and nods.

"No offence Sharpay, but I'd rather put my hand in the toilet then change underwear with you." Chloe gets up and walks into the bathroom. Jason follows, to be sure she does it, and she comes back out with a towel around her hand. "I defiantly just washed my hands like ten times. Ok…Chad, truth or dare?" Troy could see Chad shift uncomfortably next to him. The continue to play and Troy finds himself zoning out, fantasizing about Gabriella laying beneath him, panting heavily until a name is said that finally gets his attention. He looks up to see Sharpay talking once again.

"Gabriella…truth or dare."

Gabriella looks up at Troy. Everyone around the room was staring at her and was silent. Troy didn't know which one he wanted for her. If it was dare, she could be dared to do anything, including kissing someone else. But if she picked truth, she could be asked if they were dating. She looks at him scared for a moment, before she finally looks over at Sharpay once more. "Dare."

Troy lets out a small breath but still doesn't breathe. Sharpay smiles at her with an evil grin. "Make out with my brother." Her eyes grow wide as she looks at Troy. Coincidentally, Sharpay's eyes were on Troy too, as if she was trying to see his reaction. Troy then looks over at Ryan who was shaking his head.

"No way." Chloe, Ryan, Gabriella and Troy all say at the same time. They all look at Troy and Gabriella who were now making eye contact. Troy forces himself to look away so it didn't look too suspicious.

"Shar, come on. Me and Chloe just got together." Ryan says but Troy swears he sees Sharpay wink at him.

"Ok… then you HAVE to take my next dare. It's the rules of the game." She says and Gabriella's eyes grow wide. Troy takes a deep breath, praying that Sharpay doesn't tell her to do something else with some other guy in the room. "Give Troy open mouth kisses down his chest, in front of us, so we know you two don't lie."

Troy's bright blue eyes connect with Gabriella's brown. "Gabs, you don't have to, we can stop the game." Taylor suggests. Troy didn't want to push her into doing things that she didn't want to do within the first three hours of getting together. Plus he knew Gabriella wouldn't want people staring at her while she did this. But Gabriella shakes her head.

"If Chloe had to stick her hand in the toilet, then I'll do this." She says and everyone stares at her. Troy couldn't believe it himself. Sure, any guy would want that from his girlfriend but this was Gabriella in front of everyone. She didn't do well with crowds.

Gabriella gets on her hands and knees and begins to crawl over to where Troy was sitting. He looks up at her for a moment. "Gabi… you don't have to." He knew it wasn't a big deal, but he still didn't want her to be uncomfortable or have anyone think that they had gotten together.

She looks up at him and smiles. Troy grabs the bottom of his shirt but suddenly hears a noise. "No way. Troy, get on the couch. Gabriella, you straddle him." Sharpay points and the both look at her.

"Sharpay, you already gave them the dare, and that wasn't part of it." Taylor defends her best friend, but Troy wanted to kick Taylor for that. He could already tell he was starting to get hard and she hadn't even touched him yet.

"Too bad, this is so much better." She says and Gabriella sighs and stands up. Troy looks up at her, almost as if asking for permission. Then when she nods, he stands up as well and walks over to the couch and lies down.

He grabs the bottom of his shirt but Gabriella places her hands on his. Troy was almost certain that someone was going to stand up and say something but everyone remains quiet. After putting her legs around him, she pulls his shirt over his head and runs her hands up his chest, giving Troy the shivers. Gabriella leans her head down and starts at his neck and softly bites on his skin. He shivers again and has to grab the couch to keep him from putting his hands on her. Her lips make her way to his six pack, driving him crazy. She smiles against his skin as he lets out a soft moan that only she could hear. She finally finishes and gets up off of him and throws him his shirt. "Dude, you guys should just date again already." Jason exclaims.

The whole room gets silent. It was the first time that anyone had ever said they should date while both of them were listening. Little did everyone know that Jason was right on. After a pause of silence, Chad finally clears his throat. "Let me put in a movie." Everyone starts talking again and Troy and Gabriella both stare at each other. Finally, Troy sits up and puts back on his shirt. Chad and Taylor claim the big couch while Zeke and Sharpay take the futon. Chloe cuddles up with Ryan and Kelsi cuddles with Jason on the floor. Gabriella finally breaks the stare between them and goes over to the side to grab her own purple and light blue tie blanket and Troy's red and white one. She throws it to him and then sits down on the opposite side of the couch. Troy figures it's probably because she didn't want to lead anyone on, so he wasn't offended.

Half way through the movie, Troy looks at the clock on the TV that read 3:14 AM. He glances around the room to find everyone sleeping except Taylor, Chloe, and himself. But both their eyes were starting to close. Troy looks down at the figure curled up in a little ball at the edge of the couch on his feet. So badly, he wanted to place her in his arms but he knew that the two girls awake would notice. He looks back at the TV screen and then down at the floor to find that Chloe's eyes were shut and she looked like was finally asleep. He glances up at the couch to find that Taylor's breath was in sync with Chad's now. Troy sighs and tries to move his feet from Gabriella's body, but to his surprise, she suddenly sits up wide awake. She looks around at the rest of the gang then at Troy. "Are they asleep?" She whispers and Troy nods.

Gabriella crawls over to him and Troy leans against the arm so she could crawl into the spot next to him. "Weren't you just asleep?" She shakes her head as she wiggles under his red and white blanket. She places her head onto his shoulder and her leg drapes over his under the covers. He places an arm around her and she smiles up at him.

"I was waiting for them to go to fall asleep. When they wake up, it looks more like an accident that we ended up this way." She whispers and it made sense to Troy. If it looked like she was already asleep, then it could look like they just ended up this way.

Troy brings her chin up and kisses her lightly. They let go and she stares up into his eyes. "Sorry about the truth or dare thing. I know how you are with crowds."

Gabriella shrugs. "Whatever. Sharpay did it on purpose."

"What do you mean?"

She sighs. "She dared me to kiss Ryan because she knew that Chloe, he and I would say no. So that way, I didn't have a choice when it came to you. She must be plotting to get us together or something. You know her and her schemes." Gabriella says and turns her eyes back to the movie that was still playing.

"Funny how they've changed." He says and Gabriella smiles. She looks back up at him and stares into his eyes. "Thank you."

Troy watches as she scrunches her eyebrows in the cutest way. "For what?"

He leans down to kiss her once again. "For coming out in the rain for me." He says and kisses her again. "I don't think anything could get more perfect."

Gabriella's hand reaches his face and softly caresses his cheek. He leans into her touch but maintains eye contact with her. "I just couldn't let you go again."

He smiles down at her and kisses her lips softly once again. They break apart again and Gabriella rests her hand and cheek onto his chest. He smiles down at her and stares at the movie for another ten minutes. After, he looks down at her again to see that her breathing had become regular once more and he was certain she had fallen asleep. Slowly, he reaches down into his pocket and pulls out the hard object that he had picked up off the ground when the contents of her purse spilled out. Troy's hand lets it dangle for a second before setting it lightly onto her neck and clasps it. He was too tired to think of what would happen if someone noticed it. But Troy looks down once again at the glinting "T" on her neck before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter was a little slow and boring but it's a filler. And I know I already did the Truth or Dare thing, but I thought I'd try to make it a little more exciting! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! 


	31. Keep It

Gabriella refused to open her eyes. Because if she opened them, that meant that everything that had happened could have just been a dream. She could really be lying in her bed, the day of homecoming, and Troy could still hate her. The dance, the kiss, none of it could have happened. It was too perfect. Gabriella lets out a sigh. But what if it wasn't a dream? She had to know for sure. On the count of three. One, two, three. She opens up her eyes, but could only see a great red spot. She lifts her head up and sighs in relief as she sees Troy's peaceful face, taking deep breaths in and out. Her body relaxes as he realizes that it wasn't a dream. Everything that she thought was a dream was actually reality, and should couldn't have been any happier.

A loud snore echoes in her ears as she looks out into the basement to find it coming from Chad. Everyone was fast asleep still. Her eyes turn over to the clock on the TV that read 9:02 AM. She sighs again and looks back at her sleeping boyfriend. He had laced their hands together while she was asleep and he seemed to have a smile play on his face. Softly, she traces his muscles on his arms and leans up to kiss him on the chest, even though he had his shirt on. Gabriella lays her head back on Troy's chest and closes her eyes, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

After a few more minutes of cuddling next to Troy, she finally decides to get up and get in the bathroom, so she could be ahead when everyone else tried to get at it. She reluctantly untwines her body away from Troy's and stands up, trying to avoid Chloe and Ryan who were lying close to the couch. She stretches for a moment, then grabs her bag and gold clutch and walks into the bathroom. She leaves the door ajar and washes her face. After she's done, she quickly brushes her teeth and then looks in her clutch to find her phone to see if her mother called her. With no missed calls, she places it back along with the make up, the money and the necklace…

Gabriella's eyes go wide as she goes through the purse again. "No, no no!" She whispers as she takes all of the contents out and shakes it upside down. She looks through everything, even her bag and then finally sits on the floor with her head in her hands. Troy was going to kill her. She knew it. She had lost the one thing that symbolized that she belonged to him, even after she stole it back from him in the first place…

_Gabriella sat in Troy's backyard awkwardly. It had been two weeks since Gabriella broke up with Troy the second time. She was sitting with Taylor and Kelsi as Troy, Chad, and Zeke were playing basketball. Ryan was trying to keep up with them, but it was obvious that he was struggling. Gabriella and Troy hadn't said a word to each other since they had broken up and the only she knew she was invited to his house today was because Chad called her and told her Troy invited her. Gabriella stares as the sweat dripped off Troy's body and sighs. He makes one more basket and then all of the guys stop and give each other high fives._

"_Dude, Ryan, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Chad claps him on the back and Gabriella giggles a little when Ryan is almost knocked over. "Play with us more and you'll be a pro in no time."_

_The guys sit down on the grass and drink bottles of water that were sprawled out every where. Gabriella tries to best not to stare as Troy wipes off the sweat that had collected on his forehead, but she couldn't help it. His eyes look up and they connect with hers for a moment, before they both turn away embarrassed. "So, another round?" Zeke says after five minutes when the catch their breath. The girls groan but all of the guys get up happily._

"_We're gonna go inside." Kelsi says and all of the girls stand up. Kelsi and Taylor both kiss their boyfriends while Gabriella and Troy avoid each other's eyes. They then hurry inside and feel surrounded by the air-conditioning. All three girls look back out the window again to find the five guys playing once again._

"_So… has Troy talked you yet?" Taylor asks and Gabriella shakes her head, staring at the guy who just made a perfect slam dunk._

"_No." She says and sighs. "I just wish we would though. I miss him." She says and lays both of her fingers on the glass as if reaching out for him. _

"_He'll come around." Kelsi says and sits down on one of the kitchen table chairs. The other two girls join her and sit there talking and laughing for ten minutes._

"_I'll be back." Gabriella says getting up and they all look at her confused for a moment. "Bathroom." She says and both of them nod. Gabriella walks toward the stairs because the other bathroom door was ajar with the light on and Gabriella figured Mrs. Bolton was cleaning it. _

_She makes her way up the steps and stops for a moment. She could see Troy's room at the end of the hall with the door half way open. Gabriella looks at it for a moment. She didn't know why, but she needed to go inside it. Just to be able to be in a place where he was all of the time would make her feel so much better. Taking one foot at a time, being drawn to it, Gabriella makes her way down the hallway and pushes the door open. It wasn't the first time she had been in there, but the basketball head board still made her laugh a little. Her legs carry her throughout the room and she looks up at all of the trophys on his bookshelf. She sits down on his blue comforter and lays her head back so her hair was spawled out everywhere._

_She looks over at his nightstand and smiles at the picture of them together at prom. But her eye catches something else. Gabriella sits up again and leans forward, watching as the silver glinted in the light. She stood up and grabs it, letting it hang in the air for a moment. It was the necklace, the necklace she had given back to him two weeks ago. She smiles as the "T" spins around slowly, with the red stone reflecting off of the light._

"_What the…?" She hears a voice enter the room and Gabriella quickly turns around, hiding the necklace behind her back. She felt embarrassment rise into her cheeks as they turn red. Standing in the doorway was Troy, sweat glistening off of his shirtless body and his eyes grew wide with realization. "Oh… I didn't know it was you… I mean, I thought you were downstairs… and I…" He looks at her for a moment and then raises his eyebrow. "What are you doing in here?"_

_The awkwardness was hanging in the air as Gabriella looks from side to side as if Troy's walls would tell her the answer. "I… uhh…" She says trying to figure out a perfectly good excuse for being in Troy's room without making it sound like she was a stalker. "Bathroom?"_

_He raises his eyebrow again and crosses his arms. It was the first thing that popped into her head but it was so stupid. Why the hell would she be in his room if she was going to the bathroom? "You were going to the bathroom…" He says and she shrugs._

"_I uhh… um… I just saw…" She says trying to cover up. "Your headboard. My cousin… Paul… He's a huge basketball fan and his birthday is coming up… and my mom wanted to get him something basketball, and well you being you…" She trails off then shakes her head. "I thought it was a good idea?" She says in almost a question more then anything. That was stupid. She didn't even have a cousin named Paul. She felt her hand slowly bring the chain of the necklace into her palm. It would look weird if she put it back now with Troy there. Plus, she wanted it._

"_Oh… your cousin Paul." Troy says with a smile on his face. She knew he knew she was lying. He walks over and opens a dresser drawer. Gabriella felt strange. It was the first actual conversation that they had since the break up it and it was completely insane. "I don't remember seeing him at your mom's birthday party."_

_Uh oh. She had forgotten that Troy came to her mom's birthday party where all of her relatives where there. She freezes in her spot for a moment. "He's a…my cousin's cousin. Twice removed." She says and cringes at how stupid that sounded. So she slowly tries to inch her way to the door to get out of this awkward moment._

"_Oh, gotcha. Well…" He grabs another shirt and turns around to smile a little at her. "Good luck with that." He says and she sighs._

"_I should be going downstairs now. Taylor might miss me…" Gabriella says and watches as Troy's smile falters a little._

"_Oh right… I'll be right down." He says and leans toward her as if to give her a hug, but then pulls back and scratches the back of his neck. She figures it was probably out of habit. He walks over to the other side of his bed and she quickly turns around to get out. "Gabriella…" He yells back to her and she freezes in her spot. She slowly turns around and cringes when she finds Troy's fingers where in the spot that the necklace was in only a few minutes before._

"_Yea Troy?" She asks, trying to be innocent. Gabriella feels her eyes close, waiting for him to yell at her for stealing something. But instead, she feels a hand bring her own clenched fist up and she opens her eyes. Troy grabs her fingers and opens her hand up to reveal the small "T" necklace. "I…" She starts to explain but he closes her fingers around it again._

"_Keep it." He says and she looks up into his eyes. He smiles down at her, the first real smile he's given her in two weeks. "Let's go." He says and walks around her, leaving her with a smile on her face._

Gabriella opens her eyes letting the memory fade away. She hits her hand to her head as if to knock her memory to think harder. How could she loose it? What if she dropped it at school? But then another memory hits her. She dropped her purse last night. Gabriella quickly stands and puts everything in her clutch once more. She would sneak upstairs and go outside to find it. The only problem was making sure no one woke up. She grabs her stuff and heads toward the bathroom door when it suddenly opens first.

Her eyes grow wide as Troy walks in. "Hey beautiful." He whispers as he shuts the door behind him. Out of all of the people to walk in on her in this crisis, it had to be him.

"Hey you." She tried to be perky and watches as he walks over to her. His arms wrap around her lower back and he leans down to kiss her. She smiles and wraps her own arms around his neck and slowly breaks their lips apart. He leans his head up against her forehead. "Did you sleep ok last night?" She asks and he nods.

"I had this gorgeous girl sleeping with me so yea, I slept great." He says and smiles down at her. She tries to smile back but the thought of loosing the necklace was lingering in her head. "Are you ok? You seem tense."

"Fine." She says too quickly and watches as he raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Nothing's wrong? Or different?" He asks as she nods quickly. Troy sighs and then looks away from her eyes. He lets go of her for a moment and she tries to think of a way to get out of the bathroom and into the driveway. "Gabi…" He starts and she quickly turns to him.

"Hmmm?" She say asks impatiently and Troy sits on the counter of the bathroom, obviously not moving. As he does so, his hand "accidentally" knocks over her gold clutch.

"God I'm sorry." He says and slowly tries to get off the counter to pick it up. Gabriella takes a step forward and leans down to grab it. Suddenly, something dangles in front of her eyes and Gabriella tries to bat it away. But it returns and she suddenly realizes it was attached to her neck. She grabs it to move it out of the way, thinking that it was stupid not to take off her homecoming necklace before she went to bed last night when suddenly a realization dawns on her.

She didn't wear a necklace to homecoming.

Her body springs up and looks into the mirror. Lying on her chest was a small silver "T" with a red stone in the corner. She stares at it with wide eyes for a moment, then turns over to Troy who was smiling on the counter. "How did…"

"I picked it up when you dropped your purse last night and put it on when you fell asleep. God, it took you forever to figure out." He jokes. "I figured I'd brand you again.

Gabriella figures that she must have been too tired to see it when she was washing her face earlier she smiles up at him and moves her body in between his legs and wraps her arms around his neck. "You know I can't wear it that much though…" She says sadly and he kisses her forehead.

"I know. Not until we tell everyone else. But I couldn't wait that long." He says and kisses her lips softly. "So I never asked you if Paul got his basketball headboard." He jokes and Gabriella glares at him.

"Shut up." She says and he rolls his eyes.

"Come on, let's get out of here before everyone wakes up and we both walk out. They might think that's a little sketchy." He says, jumps down and grabs her bag for her. Gabriella takes off the necklace and places it safely in her purse. He opens the door slightly and looks around, then nods at her and opens the door further as they sneak out of the bathroom as quietly as they can. Zeke, Taylor, and Chloe were missing from the floor, and Gabriella figures they had already gone upstairs. They make their way up the basement stairs and find all three of them sitting at the table.

"Where were you two?" Chloe asks them and Gabriella quickly looks at Troy to answer this one.

"Downstairs sleeping." He says and Gabriella looks between all three.

"No you weren't, we just got up here and you two weren't down there." Taylor says groggily and Troy looks at them as if confused.

"No… I'm pretty sure I was. She was in the bathroom." He points to Gabriella and shakes his head. "I was still on the couch." Gabriella tried not to laugh as Troy came up with this stupid lie. She was sure that he was counting on them not fully conscious yet to not remember him being gone.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asks and Troy nods convincingly.

"Dude, Roberts, you must not be a morning person." He says and pats her back while walking further into the kitchen. "Z, you wanna make us breakfast?" Troy says opening the cabinets.

"Don't you think we should wait for Chad?" Taylor asks and Gabriella suddenly hears the door open.

"No need." Chad says while walking into the kitchen tiredly. "Besides, Troy lives here anyways." He says and leans down to give Taylor a kiss on the lips. "Morning."

"Chad, you need to learn about toothpaste." Taylor says and waves her hand in front of her nose and Chad rolls his eyes.

"She's right man!" Troy says sitting down at the table as Zeke gets up to turn on the stove.

"Omelets anyone?" He asks and everyone nods, still extremely tired except for Gabriella and Troy who had been up for awhile already. Gabriella sits down in the seat next to Troy and suddenly jumps when she feels his hand begin to rub her leg.

Zeke makes breakfast and soon, everyone gets up from the basement. They eat, mostly in silence while Troy and Gabriella play footsie with each other under the table. After their done, Troy stands up and stretches for a moment, then looks at everyone. "I'm gonna get going." He says and looks at Gabriella who stands up as well.

"Well, you're my ride home. Thanks so much for having us all Chad." She says as she places her plate on the counter. Chad groans which she figures means your welcome and waves at everyone else. They wave back and the couple walks out the front door and hop into Troy's truck. After what only seemed like two minutes, Troy pulls up to her driveway and shuts off the car.

Troy leans over and kisses her softly. She pulls apart and smiles at him. "I'll call you later ok?" He says and she nods. He kisses her once again and then she opens the door, grabbing her bag, her purse and her dress from his back seat.

"Bye Troy." She says with a wave and he smiles back.

"Bye Gabi." He says as he pulls out of her driveway and makes it goes back out on the road. She watches until she can't see the white truck anymore and then makes her way inside. She walks upstairs and sets her stuff on her bed, not feeling like unpacking now. Gabriella still couldn't believe how perfect last night was. It was as if all of her prayers had been answered and everything was now officially perfect. She looks up into the mirror in her room and smiles, noticing that she hadn't glowed this much in a long time.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter was a little slow but it was a filler and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to go from here. Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	32. Out in Public

It had been two weeks since homecoming and everything was almost perfect. Troy and Gabriella were going strong. Troy had been amazing to Gabriella, and she knew she was the luckiest girl in the world. There was only one problem. She hadn't said a word about them to any of her friends. And it was killing her. So badly did she want to tell Taylor or Chloe about them. It was also driving her insane because she couldn't show how they were together in public. So badly had she wanted to kiss him or hold his hand or just let him hold her in front of other people. It was starting to eat her from the inside and she was going to explode soon.

Gabriella closes her locker and sighs. It was, once again, right before last hour. She walks down to Chloe's locker and sees the blonde smile at her. "Hey Gabs." She greets her and opens up her locker a little further. Gabriella smiles when she sees the picture of Chloe and Ryan before the homecoming dance. They were going strong also, but Gabriella was jealous that Chloe got to flaunt her boyfriend, while she was stuck keeping it silent. "God, would those two hurry up?" She says and Gabriella looks down the hallway. She sees Troy and Chad slowly make their way to them and Chloe shuts her locker. "Took ya long enough."

"It's his fault!" Troy says as they begin to walk toward the stairs to make it to the gym. "He had to sneak in 'just one more kiss' with his girlfriend."

The two girls laugh. "Hey, I hadn't gotten to see her since the beginning of the day. Do you know how long that is? I haven't been able to kiss her for the whole day! You have no idea how much torture that is!" Gabriella's eyes immediately spring up and lock with Troy's. They were both thinking how they did have an idea… in fact they had gone a lot longer than that.

The foursome walk down the stairs and Gabriella and Chloe turn to go into the locker-room. Troy gives Gabriella a wink before walking off with Chad which makes Gabriella blush. She and Chloe enter the locker-room and once again hear an annoying cheerleader's voice bellowing. It had almost become a daily routine that Gabriella and Chloe would sit behind the wall to hear her crazy stories before going to change. "Tryouts for the team start on Monday. So he's going to need his cheerleader at his side for some stress relief." Bridget says and Gabriella immediately knows it's about Troy. "I say we're going out by Monday."

Gabriella rolls her eyes annoyingly and she leads Chloe into the locker-room. Of course, she knew this wasn't true since Troy was hers, but it defiantly hit a nerve. She was tired of having every girl drool over her boyfriend and throw themselves at him. "Don't listen to her Gabs." Chloe says and Gabriella laughs.

"You think I would believe her after the whole homecoming thing?" Gabriella says as she strips off her long sleeved shirt she was wearing and replaces it with a t-shirt. She steps out of her jeans and replaces them with a pair of black shorts. "I know I have nothing to worry about." But in the back of Gabriella's mind, something she said was bothering her. Tryouts for the team were next week, and Troy told her how he himself had to evaluate some of the players. He said it was extremely stressful. What if he wanted to relieve some of that stress?

"Let's go." Chloe says and they both walk out the locker-room doors. Troy and Chad were, as usual, shooting baskets. Gabriella smiles a little and thinks how lucky she really is. Chloe turns and looks at Gabriella. "Since it's Friday, Taylor was talking about seeing that new movie tonight." She states. "Chad has to do something for his mom, Kelsi is going out with Jason, since it's their nine month today. So we were thinking it could just be Tay, Sharpay, you and me." Gabriella sighs. She had already promised Troy that she would hang out with him tonight since they hadn't had any time alone last weekend. That was the other thing that was starting to bother her. She was sick of only going to each other's houses. She wanted to actually go some place and not be afraid of someone else seeing them. "I can't." She says and Chloe raises her eyebrow.

"You said yesterday that you wanted to see that movie really badly…" She starts but Gabriella shakes her head.

"I know, but my mom wants me to help her. She's having a book club over or something and she wants me to help clean the house." Gabriella lies and looks up to find that Troy and Chad were starting to make their way over to where the two girls were standing.

"We can go after." Chloe says and Chad and Troy finally arrive by them.

"I think she wants me to help clean up too." She lies again and Chloe sighs. "We should go tomorrow."

"Go where?" Chad asks finally making his way into the conversation.

"To the movies. But Gabriella can't go." Gabriella resists the temptation to look up at Troy. "She has to help her mom clean."

"You mom wouldn't care if you went to the movies instead of clean." Troy says and Gabriella makes eye contact with him. He was smiling softly but Gabriella shakes her head. She really did want to hang out with Troy tonight. She had just spent all of last Saturday with the girls and she wanted to be with him tonight.

"I promised I'd help her." She responds and stares up into his crystal blue eyes.

"She wouldn't care. As long as you have fun." He says plainly but Gabriella shakes her head.

"I want to help my mom." She says and Troy sighs and scratches the back of his neck.

"Guys, it's really not a big deal. Shar, Tay and I will just go." Chloe says and Gabriella and Troy finally break their stare. She nods and suddenly hears Mr. Guerrero blows his whistle to start the gym hour. The four of them walk toward the center of the gym with the rest of the class.

"Alright, since it's Friday, I'm going to let you guys do whatever you want. But you have to do some physical activity. I don't want to see you standing in a corner gossiping." He says and looks over toward Bridget. "Alright, go ahead."

Troy and Chad immeditatly run over to grab a basketball and a hoop. The rest of the guys take the other half of the court and start up a game. Shannon, Mandy, and the rest of the cheerleaders were trying to form a game of lightning. Bridget, Gretchen, and Jackie stood in the corner, just like Mr. Guerrero told them not to, and sit down. Gabriella and Chloe look at eachother. "We could go play lightning with the girls." Chloe suggests and Gabriella shakes her head.

"I think we should challenge the guys." She says boldly and walks over to where Troy and Chad had already started a game of one on one. "Hey guys."

Troy immediately drops the ball at the sound of his girlfriend's voice and looks at the two. Chad smiles at them. "And what do you guys want?"

Chloe smiles at them. "To kick your asses." She says and Troy and Chad both laugh. "Come on, boys vs. girls." She says and they shrug.

"Alright." Chloe agrees and Gabriella steps forward.

"I got Gabi." Troy says and smiles playfully at her. Chloe takes the ball up and passes it to Gabriella who dribbles a little, fakes right, then goes left and passes it back to Chloe who takes a perfect shot which goes it.

"Shit Gabs, where did you learn to do that?" Chad asks while taking the ball up to the half court.

"From the best." She says with nudges Troy with her hip. "Alright, enough talking." She says as Chad passes Troy the ball.

* * *

Troy leans down and gives her an open mouth kiss on her neck. He does it again and feels her squirm in his arms. He smiles and looks up into her eyes and kisses her lips. His tongue grazes the bottom of her lip asking for entrance and she grants it. Softly, he massages his tongue around her mouth. But suddenly, she pulls apart from him and gives him a flirtatious smile. "That's for beating us in gym today." Gabriella says as Troy rolls his eyes.

"Did you really think that you were going to beat two of the guys on the varsity basketball team?" Troy asks and moves a piece of hair that was in her face behind her ears and she shakes her head. They were both sitting on Troy's couch in the basement and it had only been an hour since she got here.

"No, but maybe the superstar would have slipped up because he saw his girlfriend there or something." Gabriella says with a smile and Troy shrugs his shoulders.

"Yea, tell me about this superstar. What's he like?" Troy asks flirtatiously and Gabriella shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, he's got brown hair, muscular, AMAZING bright blue eyes. He's really athletic, the king of the school. Um… sexy, a great smile and his girlfriend really likes him." She says and Troy kisses her softly then breaks apart.

"Sounds like he's a lucky guy." He says and Gabriella sighs, with a serious look on her face.

"And his girlfriend has a question for him." She says and looks up into his eyes. "Don't be mad ok?"

Troy looks at her strangely and raises his eyebrow. "Ok… should I be worried?"

Gabriella shakes her head and puts both arms around his neck. "No, but I was wondering earlier today about something, and I know you don't want to, but I just have to ask…"

Troy still looks at her confused. Why was she acting so strange? She was fine just a moment ago. "Ok…"

Gabriella takes a deep breath. "I wanna go out tonight." She says simply. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love being here with you… but that's all we've done. I want to go out and do something. Please? I know someone might see us… but maybe that's ok? I just…" She says and looks up into his eyes. "I'm sick of hiding this Troy. I'm sick of hiding you." As she says this she places a hand on his cheek.

Troy sighs. He knew this was going to come someday, he just didn't expect it tonight. He also knew once it got into the open, then people could get in the way like what happened this summer and during homecoming. But Troy looks up at Gabriella's pleading eyes and realizes this is what she really wants. "We'll tell them tomorrow when we all go ice skating. Which I still don't get how you managed to get us to do that." Troy says and Gabriella giggles.

"Cuz you're a pushover. Come on, I wanna go see that movie." Gabriella says and takes Troy's hand leading him up the stairs. They grab a paper and look at times. "I heard Sharpay say that went to a seven thirty show. What if we went to an eight fifty?"

Troy leans over her back so he could look at the paper but places his two hands on either side of her. He leans down and places his lips on her exposed neck. "Whatever you want." He says and she turns around in his arms so she's facing him. She gives him a quick kiss on the lips and then he looks over at the clock. It was eight fifteen now. He pulls apart from her and folds up the paper.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Coach Bolton enters the kitchen. Troy's parents and Gabriella's mom all knew that they had gotten together, but they were the only ones that knew.

"Gabi and I are going to a movie." Troy says and Coach Bolton nods.

"Cool. Your mom and I are going out to dinner. You two have fun though." He says and Gabriella smiles.

"Thanks Mr. Bolton." She says and they watch as he walks out of the room. Gabriella looks at the clock and then back at Troy. "We should probably get going. It just came out so they're might be a lot of people there." She says as she grabs her purse that was lying on the table. Troy smiles as he sees the sparkle on Gabriella's neck. She always wore it when the two of them were just together, but left it off at school. It made him happy knowing that soon she would be able to keep it on all the time.

Troy makes sure he has his wallet and they both slip on their shoes. He calls goodbye to his parents and then the two walk out the door, hand in hand, toward Troy's truck. They hop in and pull out of the driveway. "So how do you think everyone's gonna take it tomorrow?" He asks her and she shrugs.

"Probably all with cheers." Troy nods. He knew that all the guys had been on his back about asking her back out ever since homecoming, but he couldn't tell them that they had already taken that step. After about ten minutes, they arrive at the movie theater and get out. "Well, the girls are already here, cuz that's Tay's car." She says as she points out the small green car sitting a couple rows over. Troy wraps an arm around her and they begin walking toward the theater, showing they were together for the first time in public.

The couple walks into the lobby and finds it mobbed. Troy pays for the tickets and they walk in further. He grabs a hold of Gabriella's hand and leads her further into the theater. "Do you want anything?" He asks her nodding to the consession stand and Gabriella shakes her head. "No popcorn?"

"I think I ate too much at your house." Gabriella says and Troy laughs. They had two huge bowls of ice cream before. He nods and smiles at her, taking in all of her features. "What?"

"Nothing." He says and brings his hands to either side of her face and kisses her forehead, in the middle of a huge crowd. "Let's go." He says and grabs her hand to lead her into the movie.

* * *

Taylor lays her head down on Chad's shoulder. She looks up at the ad on the huge screen and feels Chad kiss her forehead. "Aren't you happy I got out of helping my parents?" He asks and Taylor nods.

"Yea, and I'm just glad that Chloe and Sharpay are going to dinner with Ryan and Zeke. I felt bad just canceling on them, but we really haven't done anything just the two of us either." She says and feels Chad kiss her forehead once again.

"Yea, even though I COULD be playing basketball with Troy right now." Chad jokes and Taylor slaps his arm. "Kidding! I'm totally kidding!" Taylor rolls her eyes. Even though he could act like an idiot sometimes, well, that was half the reason she liked him in the first place. She looks at the watch on Chad's hand to see it was 8:40. The theater was somewhat crowded but she thought there would have been more people since it was opening weekend. They were sitting on the right side toward the middle in one of the rows with only two seats. She sighs and thinks of how badly Gabriella wanted to see this movie, and she was stuck helping her mom right now. "Besides, Troy was going out to dinner with his parents tonight."

Taylor sighs. "Yea, I feel bad for Gabriella right now. She's stuck helping her mom with her book club." She says and Chad shrugs.

"Yea, I'm sure she can handle one night away from everyone." Chad says and rubs Taylor's shoulder a little bit.

"I know, but she really wanted to see this movie. It sucks that she won't be able to." Taylor says and looks up at Chad who's eyes were extremely wide. "What?

"Umm, I think she won't mind." He says and Taylor scrunches her eyebrows.

"Well I know she won't mind but…"

Chad shakes his head, eyes still fixed on one spot. "No, she won't mind because she's going to see this movie tonight."

"What are you talking about?" Taylor asks. Did Chad go insane? Gabriella was stuck at home. "Gabriella's with her mom."

"Well I'd say that's a no unless her mom suddenly grew, got brown hair, and decided to become the captain of the East High basket ball team!" Taylor's eyes whip around to where Chad was staring. She gasps a little as she sees Gabriella standing at the bottom of the steps with Troy right behind her. Her eyes grow wide as Troy wraps his arms around her waist and points up the left side of the theater. Gabriella nods and grabs his hand, making their way up the stairs. Taylor shakes her head a little in disbelief.

"I can't believe it." She whispers and watches as they sit down and Troy's lips connect with hers for a brief moment. She looks up at Chad who had the same expression on his face. "Did you know?"

Chad shakes his head, still staring at them wide-eyed. "I had no idea."

Taylor shakes her head again and the lights of the theater dim. But her attention was still on the couple on the opposite side of the theater. They had kept it a secret, for how long? A day? A week? Taylor had no idea. But however they did it, they did it well. Because no one had known. That is, until now.


	33. Trailer

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys had an amazing holiday, I know I did. But at the moment, I'm stuck in the middle of the next chapter and I need to get out of my writer's block. If you guys have any ideas of which way you want this to go, let me know. I'm not saying I'll for sure put it into the story but I'll consiter your ideas. But I thought that I could give you a trailer for another story I'm working on. I won't put it out until I'm finished with this one, but I just thought you guys might want to see what it's about. I know for sure it's going to be rated "M" this time around, but I hope that doesn't stop anyone from reading it. So yea, let me know what you guys think! Thanks for hanging in there and I'll get a new chapter up soon! Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Trailer**

_Troy Bolton was the "golden boy" of East High. He's the player. Every guy wanted to be him and every girl wanted to be with him._

"Dude Troy, how'd you manage to pull that one off?" Chad asks and Troy shrugs.

"I'm Troy Bolton. What do you expect?" Troy says while smirking at a group of cheerleaders.

_Gabriella Montez was the most popular girl at West High._

"That's the thing about you. You're the most popular person here because you're nice. Not because you're some Barbie." Taylor exclaims as a huge group waves happily at Gabriella.

"I just know what's right I guess." Gabriella says and waves back.

_Their parents are best friends, but they hate each other._

"Don't talk to me." Gabriella spits out.

"Don't tell me what to do. It's my house, and if you have a problem with that, then get out." Troy says angrily.

"It's not like I want to be here anyways." She says as she glares at her mom talking with Mrs. Bolton.

_They get a summer job at the same place._

"It's Tay and Gabs!" Chad says and waves as they walk toward each other.

"YOU work here?" Gabriella exclaims.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Troy says with a smirk.

"I'm not disappointed… I'm disgusted." She says with a snarl which makes Troy smirk even more.

_All of their friends get along._

"So, are they treating you well over on the West side?" Chad says and drapes his arm around Taylor.

"Yes, Chad. Don't worry." Gabriella says and looks over to see Troy's body grinding up against a random blonde. "And I know if they weren't, you'd beat them up for me."

_But what happens when they see each other in a new light?_

Gabriella feels Troy's hands pull her hips closer to him. "Troy… don't."

Troy closes his eyes. "Don't tell me you don't feel anything."

"I can't do this." Gabriella whispers.

"Why not?"

Gabriella takes a step back from him. "Because it's you."

_Will they be able to find love?_

Troy forcefully pushes Gabriella down on the bed and kisses her furiously.

"Gabi…I'm sor…"

"Don't ruin it." Gabriella says and leans up to kiss him once again.

_Or will they push each other apart?_

"Don't touch me, don't look at me, don't even think about me!" Gabriella screams as she marches angrily across the side of the pool. "I can't believe I thought you'd actually do something nice for once!"

"Sorry I'm not perfect like you!" Troy yells angrily.

"If you think I'm perfect then you don't know anything about me!" She yells over her shoulder.

"I know a lot more then anyone else here does!" Troy states and Gabriella glares at him.

_Will they find their summer romance?_

"You know what? I think you're scared." Troy yells as Gabriella starts to head to the door to leave.

"Why would I be scared?" She asks frozen in her spot.

You're scared because for the first time you want me just as bad as I want you." Troy yells making her turn around.

"Go to hell!" Gabriella yells.

"Only if you come with me." He says softly pushing her against the wall and kisses her.

**Let me know what you guys think!**


	34. Tryouts

Gabriella opens the door to the dark theater and runs inside, keeping a hold of Troy's hand. She leads him down the dark way until they finally see the screen which had an ad on it. She stops and looks up at the crowd to find it was crowded, but not as packed as she thought it would be. It was like an adventure for her, because they hadn't been able to be together in public for so long. She jumps a little as she feels Troy's arms slip around her waist from behind and looks back at him, smiling. "How 'bout up there?" He asks as he points to a spot with just two seats and Gabriella nods. She grabs his hand that was around her stomach and leads him up the steps to the spot toward the back and sits down.

"Good choice." She says and Troy places his lips on hers for a brief moment.

"I thought so too. That way, if the movie sucks, it's darker back here so we can do whatever we want." He says raising his eyebrows seductively and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"It's a scary movie; I don't think you wanna do anything when you would be jumping the whole time." She says and Troy smirks at her.

"Well, it could be kind of kinky." He says in her ear and Gabriella slaps his arm playfully.

"You're a piece of work Bolton." She says as the lights of the theater dim and the screen glows. Troy places his arm around her shoulders and kisses her forehead as she rests her head onto his shoulder. This felt perfect. Them finally being back to the way they were during the summer. Nothing could get better than this.

About half way through the movie, a scene shows where the two main characters, after running away from a mass murderer begin to make out heavily and land on the bed. She feels Troy shift beside her and unconsciously pulls her closer to him. A thought lingers in Gabriella's mind from earlier today. What did Troy expect from her? And what Bridget had said in the locker-room about relieving stress. She had never stayed in one place long enough to have a relationship that lasted longer than three months. Troy and her had dated for six months before Lava Springs, and now it was like they had just picked up where they left off. They hadn't had a full make out session on a bed or anything yet, but it was stuck in the back of her head.

She didn't even know, was Troy a virgin? Oh course he was…right? He may have been the king of the school, but he hadn't had THAT many girlfriends. She remembers a talk they had about their past relationships one time since neither one of them knew about the other since Gabriella had moved there. Troy had dated a girl in seventh grade that lasted two weeks, but that didn't even count. Neither did his two girlfriends in eighth grade that lasted a month. Freshman year, she knew he dated someone for two months. Then there was Madison, who was in her physics class last year and she really didn't like her, which lasted six months. But Troy dated her while he was a sophomore. And then there was his rebound from her named Rachael, who Gabriella knew was another cheerleader, but that didn't last very long. And then it was Gabriella. So Troy couldn't have sex with one of them. Of course not. And she didn't even need to worry about it now.

She shakes her head and tries to let that thought go and focuses on the movie. "Are you ok?" She hears a voice in her ear and looks up to find Troy staring down at her. She nods and then feels his lips connect with hers. She smiles into the kiss and then finds Troy letting go and pulling her closer to his body. "You seem distant."

"I'm fine." She whispers back and feels Troy's lips connect with her forehead once again. She turns her attention back to the movie that was playing and tries to force the thoughts out of her head. Tonight was about having fun and being somewhere where other people could see them together, not worrying about what they did while they were by themselves. Troy hadn't asked anything of her yet, and Bridget was probably just trying to physic her out. She had nothing to worry about.

The movie finally goes black after another hour and the credits pop up. Gabriella looks up at Troy to find him stretching and then he returns to his position with his arm around her shoulders. He looks down at her and smiles his smile that he saves just for her. "So did you like it?"

Gabriella nods. "Yea, it was pretty good."

"It was just funny watching you jump." He says and she shakes her head.

"Um… I'm pretty sure you jumped a couple of times too." She says and he laughs.

"Me? Never."

"Yea, right." Gabriella says with an eye roll and Troy leans down and kisses her lips. Even though the lights were starting to come on, that didn't stop them. People were already filing out of the theater and they were one of the last ones in there. Troy links their hands and Gabriella feels herself smile into the kiss.

"This is almost as good as the movie itself." Gabriella's heart stops when she hears a familiar voice. She and Troy stop kissing each other but their lips remain connected for a moment, then Troy finally breaks them apart. Gabriella looks up to see her best friend and Troy's best friend holding hands and smirking down at them. Gabriella feels her face suddenly become beat red. Chad smirks and shakes his head. "So… how's your mom's book club Gabs?"

* * *

"I still cannot BELIEVE you didn't tell us!" Chloe says as Gabriella opens her locker Monday morning. After running into Chad and Taylor on Friday night, the two were thrilled that Troy and Gabriella were together. They made the announcement on Saturday while they were ice skating and sure enough, everyone cheered they were so happy. Now, it was right before English and Taylor and Kelsi were about to have lunch. Gabriella looks into the mirror in her locker and smiles as she sees the "T" placed on her neck.

"I wasn't the right time." She says for the thousandth time. All weekend everyone had been on her back about not telling them. Now she thought it was funny. She looks over her shoulder and waves as she sees Mandy and Nate walking by holding hands. They wave back and Gabriella smiles. They had also been going out since homecoming and she could tell that Nate couldn't be happier. Suddenly, she feels two strong arms slip around her waist and she smiles as the guy pulls her closer to him.

"Hey gorgeous." Troy whispers in her ear and that makes Gabriella blush. She turns around in his arms and he kisses her on the cheek. She closes her locker and feels Troy's hand grab her hand that wasn't caring her English books. The warning bell rings.

"We'd better go." Gabriella says and says bye to everyone else. Troy leads her out from the group and Gabriella feels all eyes on them. She looks around at the people passing in the halls who were all staring at them. Gabriella tenses up, since she hated being in front of a crowd. Troy's hand gives her a soft squeeze which makes her look at him.

"They're just not used to it again." He says to reassure her and she nods.

"I know… you know how I am with crowds though." She says as they make it to the English room a walk in. The whole classroom becomes dead silent and all eyes look on them. Gabriella reflexively drops Troy's hand but he grabs it immediately again. He leads her into the room and walks her back to her seat. Gabriella knew that everyone was talking about how their basketball caption got a new girlfriend again. Well, not really new, but he was unavailable now. She looks up at Troy who tries to give her a reassuring smile but the bell rings and Troy lets go of Gabriella's hand and sits down in his seat at the front.

"Alright." Mrs. Jameson starts and stands up in front of the class. "I'm going to give you your rough drafts back and I want you to make corrections. You can work with a partner to bounce off ideas. You have the hour." She says and everyone gets up. Gabriella watches as Troy grabs his stuff and walks back and pulls up a desk next to her. Mrs. Jameson hands the two their essays with a smile and then walks over to other groups.

"It will stop when the week is over." Troy says as people keep looking back at the two and Gabriella nods. She feels Troy's hand lace with hers under the table and she looks up at him. He tries to give her a smile but Gabriella could tell he was struggling. Suddenly, she remembers something and understands.

"So, Tay, Sharpay, Kelsi and I were thinking about coming to tryouts to cheer you guys on." Gabriella says and feels Troy tense beside her.

"Great. More pressure." He says half jokingly but Gabriella shakes her head.

"Think of it as motivation." She says and he nods. "You're nervous aren't you?"

"I just… don't want to evaluate other people. That's my dad's job. I didn't have to do it last year cuz it was my first year a captain. I don't want the fate of the team being up to me." Gabriella nods in understanding. "I'm just stressed that's all."

Gabriella feels her own body tense up when a thought runs through her mind. "So he's going to need his cheerleader at his side for some stress relief." She wasn't thinking about the cheerleader part. It was the stress relief part that scared her. She tries to push that out of her mind but was finding it difficult. "You'll be fine, I promise." She tries to reassure him and Troy nods and looks down at his paper.

"So this is due on Friday right?" He asks and Gabriella nods. "Tryouts only last until 5. So, do you want to come over and help me with it tomorrow?" He asks and Gabriella looks down at his paper. He had a lot of red marks on it while Gabriella's was fairly clean.

"Um… can't we do it at lunch or something?" She asks, trying to avoid being alone with him this week.

Troy shrugs and squeezes her hand. "We could. But I'm not going to be able to spend anytime alone with you this week." He says and caresses her hand. Gabriella closes her eyes.

"I'll be over by six." She says and Troy smiles brightly.

"Good. You can help me relax." Troy says playfully but Gabriella feels her body tense up again. That was what she was afraid of exactly.

* * *

"I'll meet you in there!" Troy yells as Chad makes his way with the rest of the guys back to the locker-room. Gym had just ended and Troy was in a sleeveless black shirt and red shorts. He runs over to where the girls were starting to head into the locker room. "Gabi!" He yells and Gabriella turns around.

"Hey…" She says looking confused. Troy looks around to see that the gym was mostly empty. He could see Bridget standing at the door of the locker room in the corner of his eye, but he just ignored her.

"Are you staying?" He asks her remembering their conversation in English. She nods with a smile.

"If you want me to." She says and Troy feels himself beam down at her.

"You can be my good luck charm." He says and places his hands on her lower back. She smiles and wraps her arms around his neck.

"Good." She says and Troy leans down to kiss her softly. He smiles into the kiss and then breaks apart and leans his forehead against hers. "Go get 'em superstar."

He smiles again and leans down to kiss her once more, but instead hears a voice enter the gym. "Troy!" He turns around with Gabriella still in his arms to see his dad walking toward them. His dad loved Gabriella, but when it came to basketball, Troy had to be focused. Gabriella immediately removes her arms from Troy's neck and but Troy keeps his in place.

"Good luck Troy." She says and begins to run to the locker room, but Troy catches her hand first. He connects their lips together and then Gabriella breaks away after a second.

"Bye Gabi." He says and watches as Gabriella runs to the locker room. Troy turns around and finds his dad walking toward him laughing.

"I think she's scared of me." He says and Troy shrugs.

"Just during basketball. When you yelled at her last year." He says and Coach Bolton laughs again.

The guys start to file out of the guy's locker room and Troy looks up to see Chad leading them. He walks over and smiles. The crowd was bigger than the preseason practices and Troy felt nervous for a moment. He wanted the best team this year, but he didn't want to have to choose part of the varsity. The guys all walk over to where Coach Bolton was standing, ready to talk to all of them.

An hour later, Troy hears the whistle blow and he stops with the ball in his hand. "Alright guys, get some water." Coach Bolton yells and everyone immediately goes to the side of the gym. Troy wipes the sweat off of his forehead and follows them. He looks up into the stands to see that about twenty people were in the stands watching. Most of them were cheerleaders, probably looking out for their new boyfriends. But below them, Troy could see that Taylor, Sharpay, Kelsi, Chloe, and Gabriella were sitting there. He sees Gabriella give him a thumbs up which he returns. She then blows him a kiss which makes him smile as he walks up to Chad. "Nice job Captain." He says and pats Troy on the back.

"Thanks." He says and takes a sip of water. Troy could feel the paper that was his number for tryouts rubbing annoyingly on his back. Of course, Chad had gotten him "14" before anyone else could. He hears a whistle echo again and he sighs as he throws his water bottle down.

"Alright, let's set up a scrimmage. Odds on one team, evens on another." Coach Bolton says and then looks on Chad's back to see the number "6". "Chad, switch with Kyle, you be the captain for the odds." He says and Chad nods and walks over to Kyle. Troy smiles as his favorite freshman walks over to the group that was standing behind Troy.

They set it up where they would rotate every five minutes and Troy, two juniors, a sophomore and Kyle all start. Chad walks up with two juniors and two sophomores and smiles at Troy. He turns around and smiles at Taylor which Troy does the same with Gabriella. A junior from each side tip off and they start the scrimmage.

Twenty minutes later, Troy passes the ball to Kyle to takes a shot and misses. "It's ok man!" Troy yells and runs back to the other side while a junior point guard takes the ball back. Troy steals the ball away and runs back making a perfect lay up. Another whistle sounds which was the cue for a rotation and the ten guys that were on the court run off.

"Troy!" He hears his dad yell and Troy runs over to he was standing. He could see notes all over his clip board. "So what do you think so far?"

Troy tries not to groan. He didn't want to have to make decisions about the team. He suddenly felt the weight on his shoulders that this team would determine if he could get a scholarship or not. Sure, he probably had U of A, but he really didn't want to go there. He suddenly felt pressure that wasn't there while he was playing. "They look good."

"I know it's the first day, but I was thinking maybe moving Boyle up to varsity. The freshman will probably be on the freshman team, but I'm thinking I can move Kyle up to JV. He's pretty good." Coach Bolton says and Troy nods. He wanted Kyle for sure on JV. "What do you think about Henderson?"

Troy shrugs. "I don't know Dad." He says honestly. Sure, basketball was a way to calm his nerves, but at the moment, it was just getting him even more stressed out.

"Alright, guys, nice job. Same time tomorrow." Coach Bolton says at 5 PM and everyone immediately stops. Troy looks up to see Gabriella standing and smiles at her. She waves back and he picks up a stray ball and puts it back onto the rack. "I'll meet you at home." His dad says and Troy nods. He follows the rest of the guys into the locker room.

"God, it's so good to be back out there." Chad says as Troy strips off his shirt and then his shorts. He grabs a towel and wraps it around his waist before following Chad to get to the showers. After he was done, he puts back on the clothes he wore for school that day and grabs his gym bag.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." He says and everyone else yells goodbye to him. Even though he knew it wasn't a big deal, he still felt extremely stressed out from the tryout and everything else that was going on in his life. Troy walks out the door and starts to head for the stairs when he sees a girl standing up against a locker smiling at him.

"Looking good superstar." Gabriella says and Troy smiles at her. He drops his bag in front of her and picks her up in his arms.

"Thanks." He says and pulls her into a hug, instantly feeling better that what he was feeling. He lets her go and leans his forehead against hers. "And thanks for coming. I'm sure it wasn't that fun to watch."

Gabriella smiles playfully at him. "Watching my boyfriend sweat doing something he loves? Sounds like fun to me." She says and Troy smiles down at her. His lips connect with hers and he feels about a thousand times better then how he did in the locker room. His tongue grazes her bottom lip, begging for entrance but she pulls away and picks up his bag. "Come on." She says handing the gym bag to him. Troy takes her hand and leads her up the stairs, trying to forget about the stressful tryout that just took place.


	35. Massages and The List

Gabriella sighs as she walks up to the Bolton household. Troy had been jumpy all day, which she knew was from the tryouts, but it still concerned her. Just like she promised, she was going to help him tonight with his English paper, but she was still extremely nervous. Bridget's words were going through her head like wild bees and it got to the point where it was all she was thinking about. She presses the doorbell and turns around and sighs. She could do this. It wasn't like Troy was asking her to have sex with him. She just couldn't stop thinking about what Bridget said in the locker room. The door behind her suddenly opens and she turns around to see Troy standing there with wet hair and basketball shorts and a t-shirt on. "Hey." He says and opens the door wider for Gabriella to walk in. She couldn't help but smell the scent of his cologne as she walks past him. God she loved that smell. "I just got out of the shower." He says and Gabriella smiles.

"So I see." She says and feels Troy's hands rest on her hips. She wraps her arms around his neck and feels his lips connect with hers. A smile forms on her lips as she kisses him and then breaks away. She looks up into his bright blue eyes. "So… where do you want to work?" She asks and secretly prays that he says the kitchen or the living room.

"My parents are having a couple over tonight for dinner. So we can go up to my room." He says and Gabriella closes her eyes. But she opens them back up again and sees Troy looking at her curiously. "Something wrong?"

Gabriella puts on the best smile she could muster on and shakes her head. "Nope. Everything's great." She lies and Troy nods and takes her hand to lead her up the steps. They walk into Troy's bedroom and Gabriella hears Troy shut the door behind her. She looks around at the basketball headboard and giggles a little. Troy sits down on his bed and Gabriella finds a chair to sit down on, keeping her distance away from him. "So how were tryouts today?" She asks him since she didn't go. He shrugs and looks at her.

"Alright. Day two is always harder though. Plus, I'm sore." He says and moves his arm around and Gabriella laughs a little.

"So superstar can't handle being a little sore?" She asks and he picks up one of his basketball pillows and throws it at her. She laughs as she catches it and throws it back. This was going better than she thought. Why the hell did she listen to what Bridget said anyways? "Ok, let's get to work." She says and pulls out her bag. Troy hands her the paper and she reads it for awhile while Troy works on other homework. After finishing reading, she makes a couple notes in the margins and then looks up at him. He looks up also.

"So, is it hopeless?" He asks and Gabriella laughs and shakes her head.

"No, it's really good. I just changed a bit… see you should switch this sentence around with this one." She says talking out loud and writing and Troy smirks at her. "What?"

"You can't show me how to do it if I can't see the paper." He says and Gabriella remembers that she was sitting in his chair while he was on his bed.

"Oh… well… um… here." She holds out his paper to him and Troy rolls his eyes he stands up and walks over to her. She feels his arms wrap around her waist and lift her up over his shoulder. "TROY! PUT ME DOWN!" She yells and then feels herself fall back down onto the bed giggling.

"Ok… ok you win!" He says and Gabriella sits up. Troy sits down next to her and she gets the shivers as his arm brushes up against hers. She shows him what she changed and he agrees that it sounds so much better. She looks it over again about a half an hour later and then looks up to find Troy staring at her.

"What?" She asks and he shrugs.

"Nothing. You're just cute when you think hard." He says and Gabriella rolls her eyes. "I'm tired of homework." He says and grabs his paper and throws it on the floor. He inches closer to her and grabs the back of her head, bringing her forward to him. Their lips connect and Gabriella closes her eyes. It was soft at first, then he lets go. Suddenly forgetting her fear from earlier, Gabriella leans in again and kisses him again. They continue to pull away and then go back in for a while. She feels Troy's hands pull her small body to him and before she knew it, Gabriella had her arms around Troy's neck.

Troy holds a kiss longer and licks her bottom lip and Gabriella opens hers up to let Troy's roam in her mouth. Even though she was scared before, she knew him kissing her felt right. She suddenly feels Troy place his hands on either side of her and begin to back her up toward the pillows on his bed. She lifts her legs up and centers herself. Troy leans forward, their lips still connected, and Gabriella feels her head hit the mattress. She suddenly tenses up. This was the first actual heavy make out session that they had. What if he didn't think she was good enough? Negative thoughts spin around in her head as he kisses her more, and then Gabriella pulls apart to take a breath. "Troy…"

Gabriella felt Troy take that moment and begin to kiss her jaw line. He makes his way down to her neck and begins to nibble down there. "Gabi." He moans and Gabriella smiles. His lips make their way back up to hers and he kisses her passionately again. He breaks apart and pants for a second. She leans up and kisses him again. His hands move down to her hips and rest there for a moment. She runs her fingers down his back, tracing his muscles and he shudders. They kiss for a moment longer, before Troy pulls away once again and breathes. "Shit Gabi."

Gabriella lays her head back and looks up at him. "What?" She asks and begins to trace the muscles in his arms.

"Nothing just… wow." He says and leans his forehead against hers. "Wow." He whispers again and Gabriella gets scared.

"Was that a good wow or a bad wow?" She asks quietly and Troy's bright blue eyes meet hers.

"Defiantly a good wow." He says and kisses her softly on the lips again. They break apart and Gabriella looks at the alarm clock on one of his nightstands. They had been making out for about twenty minutes. She looks back up again and watches as he moves his arm, but cringes.

"What's wrong?" She asks and sits up a little, even though Troy's body was still on top of hers.

"I told you I'm sore." He says and Gabriella smiles.

"Turn around." She says and Troy raises an eyebrow at her. "Just do it."

Troy follows her orders and Gabriella kneels on the bed and puts her hands under his shirt in the back. She begins to massage his muscles starting with the shoulders and she could hear him sigh in front of her. "Go to the left." He says and Gabriella does. He sighs and Gabriella smiles.

"Feels good?" She asks and Troy moans in responds.

"Yea." He says as she makes her way down to the middle of his back. She could feel a bunch of knots sticking out of his sculpted muscles. "You know, maybe tryouts aren't so bad." He says and Gabriella laughs.

"Why not?" She asks as she pulls her hands out from under Troy's shirt and watches as he turns around.

"I get free massages." He says and kisses her lips gently.

"Don't get used to it." She jokes. "Or I'll have to start charging. I could start my own business!"

Troy shakes his head. "You can't. If you did, then I'd be broke." He jokes and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"Then I guess it's just special for you." She says as his lips crash onto hers again.

* * *

"God, my legs hurt!" Chad complains and sits down on the bleachers. "And my arms, and my back. I'm falling apart!" He exclaims as he takes a sip of water and rests. It was Thursday, two days after Gabriella went over to Troy's. Troy takes a sip of water himself and watches as Jason and Zeke sit down with his best friend.

"Look on the bright side… this is the last day of tryouts." Zeke says and pats Chad on the back. Troy nods and looks up at the clock. It was 4:45. He knew his dad had already made the list of teams that day and he would post it up at 5. Troy also knew who was on which team, since he had helped his dad last night. But his head wasn't there at the moment. It was back two nights ago with Gabriella in his room. She was all he could think about since then and he was hoping it was the same with her. They hadn't talked much since, because he had been busy with basketball and whenever he called, Gabriella was never there. Sure they had got to see each other in school, but it wasn't the same. She was driving him crazy, but that was nothing new.

"Dude, Troy, wake up!" Chad says snapping a finger in front of his face and Troy snaps out of his daydream. "Man, what's with you lately? It's like you're never here."

Troy shrugs and sits down too. "I don't know… just a lot on my mind."

"A lot as in a lot of girlfriend?" Jason asks and Troy's eyes grow wide for a moment.

"No, as in this whole tryout thing." He lies and all of them roll their eyes.

"Dude, we're not stupid." Zeke says and pats Troy on the back.

"How is Gabs?" Chad asks leaning back and smiling. "Tay says she's been bouncing off the walls since you guys had your 'study session'." He uses his fingers as quotes.

"She's fine and we did do homework." He says and all of the guys laugh.

"I'm sure." Jason says and Troy nods.

"We honestly did!" He says throwing his hands up in defense and they all laugh again. He was telling the truth, just stretching it a little.

"I remember one time when Kelsi and I tired to do homework together." Jason says and then shakes his head laughing. "I don't think we got anything done. Besides Troy, Chad said Gabs was bouncing off the walls. She wouldn't bounce off the walls if all you did was homework." He says and Chad laughs.

"If she's anything like her best friend, she might. Taylor actually gets excited when we have projects assigned." He says and laughs again. "Dude, I think I'm in love with a giant brain. But come on Troy, we want details."

Troy rolls his eyes. "There aren't many details to give." He says honestly and shrugs. "Why are you guys drilling me about her helping me with my homework anyways?"

They all look from one to the other. "Because all of us have done 'homework' with our girlfriends. Except maybe Zeke, since Sharpay just hires people to do her homework." Chad says as Zeke nods. "And every guy knows that homework is just an excuse to fool around."

Troy rolls his eyes. "Whatever man. I'm telling you, nothing happened." He says and stands up, looking at the clock once again. There were five minutes left until the list would be posted and even though the seniors all knew they were going to be on varsity, they still stayed behind to see who else made it. Troy looks over to see Kyle walking toward him. "Hey man, what's up?"

"Nothing…" Kyle says nervously and Troy laughs.

"Don't worry about it. You've played amazing." Troy says and Kyle shrugs. It reminds Troy of himself on the first post day his freshman year.

_Troy sat with Chad and stared straight ahead. He looked between all of the older guys and felt intimated. Sure, his dad was head coach of the varsity team, but Troy knew that only made it harder for him. Chad patted him on the back making Troy look over at his best friend. "You did amazing out there Troy. There's no way they're putting you on freshman." He said and Troy shrugged._

"_I missed that three pointer yesterday. And I missed three free throws during that drill." Troy said and began to scratch the back of his neck. _

"_Dude, you did better than half of the JV guys out there." Chad reassured him. "You'll be fine Troy. Stop worrying about it."_

_Troy looked up to see a senior standing in front of him. He smiled down at Troy. "Hey Bolton." The guy said and Troy tired to smile, but it didn't come out. "You nervous?"_

_Troy nodded and looked down at the ground. The senior sat down next to him and patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it Bolton." He said which made Troy look up. "You played amazing out there."_

"_Thanks Pete." Troy said. Peter was the king of the school at the time, since he was basketball captain. But he was also Troy's favorite guy on the varsity team. "But I don't think so."_

"_Are you kidding me? You play better than I did my freshman year!" Pete said and Troy knew she didn't mean that to sound cocky. "You're a great player Bolton and you're defiantly going to go places."_

_Troy looked up at him again. "You think?"_

_Pete shook his head. "No… I know." He said and Troy looked out to see his father over on the other side of the gym, putting up a list. Troy watched as everyone ran over there, but Troy stayed in his spot with Pete next to him. He didn't want to look. He didn't want to find out that all of his practicing hadn't paid off. "Come on Troy, you gotta look sometime. Let's go." Pete said and stood up. Troy slowly followed and watched as Chad came running back toward him. _

"_I'm on freshman… you…" He started but Troy shook his head._

"_I wanna find out for myself." Troy said and walked over. Pete stopped as Troy continued up to the paper and looked. His name was written twice. Once as the second name on JV and at the bottom of the varsity list. His eyes grew wide as he turned around to look at Pete._

"_Wow, varsity reserves. Sweet man, welcome to the team!" Pete said and Troy smiled brightly. That meant that he would practice with both teams. It had been more that Troy expected, but he couldn't be happier. Pete smiled and looked down at the freshman who would take over after he left. It was Troy Bolton's time to shine now, and that's what he would do for the next four years._

"I missed about two lay ups yesterday." Kyle says and looks down at the ground. "And I my defense sucked on the first day. I doubt I'll even make freshman."

Troy shakes his head and pats Kyle on the back, making him look up at the older guy. "Hey, my freshman year, I thought I sucked too. But I made JV and varsity reserves. Trust me, and I wouldn't lie to you, you are a great player. Keep your head up alright?" Troy says. He knew, just like Pete knew, where Kyle was going to be put. Suddenly, he sees his dad walk over to the same spot he did four years ago and put up a single piece of paper. The rest of the basketball team except the seniors sprint over to look, but Kyle stays behind. Troy, knowing exactly how he felt, smiles at Kyle. "You gotta go sooner or later." He says and begins to walk with Kyle at his side over to the list. The path clears as soon as they see their captain coming and he stops while Kyle keeps walking. He could see himself in Kyle as he stood looking up at the list. He turns around with a grin on his face.

"I'm on JV!" He says as he walks over to Troy happily. Troy smiles and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome to the team." Troy says and looks down at the freshman, knowing deep down that his time at East High was almost over. The school wouldn't belong to him anymore. He had to pass it on. And he knew that there was no one better to pass the torch onto than Kyle. Troy knew Kyle would be the next one in line, just like Pete knew Troy would be. Kyle may not be as good as Troy, but his heart was in the right place.

"Thanks Troy." Kyle says and runs over to where the other freshmen were standing. Troy sighs, and tries to think that he still had one more season to shine. It was depressing to him, but he knew it was all apart of getting older.

"Troy!" He hears his named called and sees his best friend in the middle of the court. "You have a visitor."

Troy looks over and sees Gabriella's form walking toward him. He smiles for a moment, remembering what was on his mind a moment ago. He may be getting older, and leaving East High in the past after this year…

"Hey Troy." She says and throws her arms around his neck.

But he knew he was holding his future in his arms.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know the ending's a little corny, but hey, corny moments make life amazing. Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys are great! 


	36. The First Game

Another two weeks had gone by and before Gabriella knew it, it was December and the first basketball game. It was, of course, Friday and the team had been practicing for two weeks, and it was finally the first game. Gabriella feels Troy's leg shaking under the lunch table. All of the guys were nervous, but Gabriella knew this meant more to Troy than the first basketball game. There were scouts from Duke and Florida State were coming to watch the guys tonight. He had been accepted to both schools. She knew deep down that Troy didn't want to go to U of A like everyone thought. Troy was looking into Duke, North Carolina, but most of all; Gabriella knew he wanted to go to UCLA. She feels Troy's leg shake even harder so Gabriella puts her hand on it. "Everyone's quiet today." Ryan says and all of the basketball guys look up at him and glare except for Troy. He continues to stare at his food.

"I hear scouts are coming." Jason states.

"We know." Chad says and suddenly, Gabriella feels Troy stand up. "Where are you going?"

"Not hungry." He says and walks up the steps to the balcony and Gabriella sighs. She knew exactly where he was going and wanted to make sure he ate; otherwise his game was going to suffer. She picks up his bag of lunch that he didn't touch and stands up.

"I'm gonna make sure he's ok." Gabriella says walks away from the table. She throws out her own lunch and makes her way up the steps that Troy just walked up. She follows the steps he just took and makes her way to the biology room and enters the secret door. Gabriella runs up the steps to see Troy's back looking out into the horizon. He was, like the rest of the basketball team, wearing his red warm up suit with the number "14" on the back in white. "Hey superstar." She greets him and Troy turns around.

"Hey." He says back and walks over to kiss her on the cheek. Gabriella looks up at him, disappointed that was all she got, but then tries to shrug it off.

"Come on… I brought you your food." She says holding up his lunch and sits down on their bench. Troy smiles half heartedly and shakes his head.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry." He says and looks back out into the skyline. Gabriella sighs and shakes her head.

"You need to eat something Troy. Otherwise you're going to hit a wall during your game." This gets Troy's attention. He walks over to Gabriella and sits down next to her on their bench and takes a bite of an uneaten sandwich. Gabriella places a hand on his shoulder and watches while he scarves down the sandwich. "Slow down though." She says giggling a little.

Troy looks up at her and swallows. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little nervous." He says and Gabriella laughs. She could see his knee shaking again so she places her hand on his knee to calm him down.

"A little?" She asks and Troy finally cracks a nervous smile.

"Ok, a lot."

Gabriella rests her chin on Troy's shoulder. "You're gonna do great out there today. I promise." She says and kisses his shoulder. She continues to rub his knee until he finishes his sandwich and leans back against the bench.

"There's a Duke scout coming." He says and Gabriella nods. She leans back too and rests her head onto his shoulder. "This game could determine whether or not I get a scholarship." He says and Gabriella closes her eyes.

"Just think of it as just another game." Gabriella says, trying to convince him, but it didn't seem to be working out too well. "You'll do great. You always do. And, if it makes you feel any better, I'll be standing in the front row, cheering you on."

Troy lifts Gabriella's chin up with his fingers and leans down to kiss her passionately. Gabriella pulls away after a minute and smiles up at him. "You just reminded me of something. Come on." He says and grabs Gabriella's hand to lead her down the steps. They leave the biology room and enter the hallway that was crowded right now. Troy leads her to his locker and opens it. He drops his gym bag on the floor and goes through it. Gabriella watches intently and then he finally smiles and stands up holding something behind his back. "It's not much, and I totally understand if you don't want to wear it." Troy says and then brings his hand around.

Gabriella grabs the red jersey and holds it up. It was his away jersey, since it was all in red and had white lettering. She turns it around and sees his number 14 on it with "Bolton" written on the top. She looks up at him and smiles. "Of course I'll wear it."

She feels Troy pick her up and swing her around. Gabriella giggles as he puts her down and kisses her on the lips for a moment. "Thanks. It means a lot to me." He says and Gabriella matches his beaming face, happy he wasn't so tense anymore.

"Troy!" She hears a high pitched voice behind her and groans. Gabriella turns around and sees Bridget with Gretchen walking toward them in their cheerleading warm ups. She looks up at Troy who gives her a reassuring smile and puts his arm around her, to prove he wasn't interested in Bridget. But Gabriella feels awkward standing like this. Sure, it was comforting but she wanted to prove that she trusted Troy. And she looks around to see that people were staring at the four of them. She hated crowds.

"Hi." Troy simply states and Gabriella feels his arm pull her a little closer.

"So you pumped for the big game?" She asks Troy and looks Gabriella up and down as if to intimidate her, but it doesn't work.

"Yea, I guess." Troy says and scratches the back of his neck. Gabriella moves to the side a bit, trying to get away from Troy's grasp, but he doesn't let her go. She looks around to see more people staring, probably because everyone knew Bridget was trying to take Troy away from Gabriella.

"Good. I'll be cheering for you." She says and takes a step closer to Troy. Gabriella, feeling extremely awkward, tries to get out of Troy's grasp again but he only pulls her closer. She looks up to see Troy's hard face.

"Well, that's your job isn't it?" He says coldly and Bridget tries not to falter her face, but Gabriella could see it. She sighs in front of him and Gabriella finally wiggles out of Troy's grasp, since it felt extremely awkward standing there. Troy looks at her for a moment but Bridget says something so he turns his head back to her while Gabriella stands next to his locker.

"I know. But you're the basketball captain, and I'm the cheerleading captain, so I get to dedicate a dance for you at half time." She says as if that would convince him to go to her and Troy raises his eyebrows. "It's tradition… you know?"

"Really?" He says and shrugs. "Too bad I'll be in the locker room at the time." He says and walks back over to Gabriella. She smirks as Bridget looks offended and jealous. She storms away with Gretchen and Troy rolls his eyes. He turns back to Gabriella. "Sorry, I know, that was kind of an asshole move." He says and Gabriella smiles up at him.

"Well… you can be an asshole to the people who deserve it. Just don't get drunk, cuz I don't think I can handle that again." She jokes and Troy leans down to kiss her again but Gabriella moves her head so he kisses her cheek. She really wasn't into PDA and everyone was still staring at them. Troy looks around and nods, realizing why she did that and then smiles.

"Only for you." He says and Gabriella beams up at him.

* * *

At seven thirty that night, Gabriella was standing in the bleachers on the first row in the gym. She had her hair up in a ponytail so you could see "Bolton" on her back. She was wearing his red jersey, white shorts, white soccer socks and white tennis shoes. Next to her on her right was Taylor who had on Chad's practice jersey on and on the left was Sharpay who was wearing a beater she made that was red and had "Baylor" written on the back in rhinestones. Kelsi wasn't wearing anything to show that she was Jason's, but was still wearing a basketball shirt that he got her. Chloe and Ryan were standing next to each other, holding hands and all decked out in red. Gabriella looks up into the stands over by the parents to see on the top row was two men in business suits with a notebook in their hands.

"And for your home team." The announcer says on the loud speaker and everyone cheers. "Starting for the Wildcats is number 32… Zeke Baylor." A round of cheers and Sharpay screams the loudest. All of them look at her and she mouths "what?" They all laugh at her. "Number 23… Jason Cross." They all cheer and look over to see Kelsi smiling. "Number 5… Nathan Collins." Gabriella smiles as Nate runs out and waves at Mandy. "Number 8… Chad Danforth." Taylor screams and Gabriella laughs, thinking how funny it was that she used to hate him last year. "And your senior Wildcats captain… Troy Bolton!"

The whole gym erupts in the loudest cheers. "GO TROY!" Gabriella hears herself yell as Troy runs out of the locker room and jumps up and down as if trying to raise the volume. She watches as Troy's eyes connect with hers and gives her a huge smile, then points at her. Gabriella feels herself blush as the rest of the team runs up and they all jump up and down. Coach Bolton walks over to the side as well as the rest of the team that were subs and the five seniors stay out there. Zeke, being the tallest, goes for the tip off as well as the player from the opposing team, the Bulldogs. On the court, Troy looks up to the top row of the bleachers and Gabriella's eyes follow. She could see the scouts already writing things down and Troy's head moves over to her. She blows him a kiss and then gives him a thumbs up. He gives her a nervous smile and the ref walks out carrying the ball. He tosses it up into the air and the game begins.

Midway into the third quarter, Gabriella looks up at the score board to see it was 37 to 30. The Wildcats were up but Gabriella could tell everyone was getting tired. "COME ON CHAD!" She hears Taylor yell next to her as Chad grabs the rebound and runs down the court. He passes to Zeke to fakes left and breaks right and passes to a junior to takes a shot and makes it. The Bulldogs then take the ball and make their own shot.

"Come on Troy." Gabriella says quietly as she sees him put his hands behind his head and pants for a moment before Chad passes the ball to him. Being point guard, Troy takes the ball up and does his famous fake right and breaking left. He takes a three point shot which makes it in with a swish.

Before she knew it, there was only twenty seconds left in the game. The Wildcats were winning.52 to 46. Troy takes the ball and drives it hard for a lay up except one of the bulldogs foul him instead. Gabriella watches as Troy lands on his back onto the hardwood. "Is he ok?" Chloe asks when Troy stays on the ground for a moment, but then gets back up.

"Troy's tough." Gabriella says and watches as her boyfriend walks up to the free throw line and hears a huge "COME ON TROY!" From the crowd. He bounces the ball twice, then spins it in his hand and takes a shot. It bounces off the rim and Gabriella could see Troy's mouth swear. The ref passes the ball to him again and he does the same thing, then shoots. The ball goes it with a swish. The bulldogs take it back and try to make a shot, but Chad gets the rebound instead. He runs the clock until the buzzer sounds in the gym and the crowd erupts with cheers. Gabriella looks up to see the scouts nodding and making their way down the steps toward Coach Bolton. The team celebrates for a moment before Coach Bolton calls Troy, Chad and Zeke over. Gabriella watches as Troy shakes hands with both men and they talk for awhile.

"Good, I know Chad's really looking at Duke and Florida State." Taylor says as the crowd begins to fill out. Gabriella watches as the scouts shake hands with the three guys again and then the seniors run into the locker room. "I think he's going for UCLA too."

"It wouldn't surprise me. That's where Troy really wants to go." Gabriella says as they make their way through the gym doors.

"Tell Zeke I'll call him later. Ry and I have to go." Sharpay says and waves.

"I'm gonna go too." Chloe says and gives everyone a hug. She grabs hands with Ryan and follows Sharpay out the doors. Gabriella, Taylor, and Kelsi walk over to the entrance of the locker room. They suddenly hear a bunch of talking and look down the hallway to see three of the cheerleaders walking toward them Shannon and Mandy both wave.

"Hey guys." Shannon greets them and stands up against the lockers with them. "They played really well."

"Yea…" Taylor says. Gabriella knew it wasn't Troy's best game, but it was still good. "I'm sure they're all extremely excited."

Suddenly, Gabriella hears a loud laugh and looks down the hallway again to see Bridget, Jackie and Gretchen walking toward them. She lets out a groan. "Oh great." Mandy says with an eye roll as the other three girls stop.

"What are _you _doing here?" Bridget asks Gabriella who just rolls her eyes.

"Waiting for my boyfriend." She spits back.

"The better question is what are YOU doing here?" Taylor asks and Bridget smirks.

"Waiting for her boyfriend." She says as she points at Gabriella. Gabriella feels herself take a step forward but Taylor puts her hand on her shoulder. "What… are you afraid? That's I'm gonna take him?"

"No. I'm not." She says confidently and Bridget smirks.

"I would be." Suddenly, the locker room door opens and the guys walk out. Nate, Jason, and Chad all walk by their girlfriends but Gabriella couldn't see Troy. She glares at Bridget for a moment then turns to Chad.

"Where's Troy?" She asks as he and Taylor break a part from a celebratory kiss.

"Trainer's getting ice for his back." He says and Gabriella's stomach drops.

"What's wrong with his back?" She asks.

"When that guy fouled him, I think he landed on it wrong. He's got a pretty nasty bruise." Chad says and Gabriella nods.

"I'm gonna find him. I'll see you guys later." She says and glares at Bridget again before running down the hallway. She goes back into the gym that was completely cleared out and walks to the doorway of the trainer's room and stops.

"Just ice twenty minutes on and twenty minutes off for the night. It might be sore, but I think it will be ok." She hears the trainer's voice say and then takes a step back.

"Thanks." Her boyfriend's voice says and Gabriella watches as Troy walks out of the small room with a bag of ice in his hands. He looks up and smiles immediately and jogs over and wraps his arms around her.

"Nice game." She says and wraps her arms around his neck. He pulls away from her for a moment to lean down and kiss her. She smiles into it and gives him a little squeeze.

"Thanks. It was ok, but the scouts seemed to really like it. The one from Duke said he would contact us later on a scholarship. I can't believe it!" He says and kisses Gabriella once again.

"I'm so proud of you." She says and Troy takes her hand. He was a lot more relaxed than earlier today and that made her so much happier.

"Yea, but my dad said that he invited the scout from UCLA to come to the next home game." He says, which meant it was two weeks away.

"That's good though, right?" Gabriella asks and Troy sighs.

"It would be, if we weren't playing West High." He says. Gabriella knew that West High was the only team that really threatened the Wildcats. Plus, from what she saw in the pizza place before homecoming, it looked like Brad and the Knights were looking for revenge.

"You'll do great. You always do." She says and he sighs.

"Yea… hopefully. Anyways. do you still wanna come over?" He asks leading her out of the gym with an ice pack in his other hand. She had driven with Taylor because Troy had asked her to hang out after the game earlier in school today. She nods and he smiles brightly. "Great."

They arrive at the Bolton household and Troy leads Gabriella up the steps and inside. Gabriella could smell the scent of cookies baking and the two walk into the kitchen. Mrs. Bolton looks up from the cookie dough she was making and walks over to her son. "Congrats Troy!" She says and Troy smiles. "I thought I'd make cookies to celebrate. Your father's still at school."

"Thanks Mom." Troy says and lets go of Gabriella's hand to grab a cookie. She follows, grabbing her own and taking a bite.

"Mr. Bolton, you defiantly make the best cookies." She says smiling.

"Thanks Gabs. I guess I have to compete because Troy always says how great your mom's brownies are." She says and Gabriella laughs.

"What? They are!" Troy exclaims which makes Gabriella laugh even more. They both walk down the steps and sit on down on Troy's couch. She could hear Troy moan as he leans back and places the ice pack onto his lower back. She remembers Chad saying how bad of a bruise he had.

"You sound like you're in pain." Gabriella states as Troy looks up at her and shakes his head.

"It doesn't hurt too badly." He says as he winces. Gabriella giggles and places her hand on his arm.

"I'm sure. Let's see it." She says as Troy turns around.

"It's not that bad. Chad makes it seem like it's the size of California." He takes off his warm up jacket and then his t-shirt. Chad wasn't lying. Sitting on his lower back was a huge purple spot that stretched across most of his back. Gabriella places to fingers on it and Troy winces again. "Ah, don't touch it!"

"Sorry." She says and then leans down and places her lips onto it as if it would "make it better". She feels Troy shiver as she plants kisses up his back and then makes it to his neck. "Feel better now?" She asks and he turns around.

"Loads, but I think I could feel even better." He says huskily as he leans down, pulling his body over hers and attacking her lips with his own.


	37. What He's Told You

"TROY FOCUS!" He hears his dad scream and Troy places his hands on his knees and pants. He gets up and wipes the sweat off his face with his practice jersey and tries to stand up. He couldn't focus; his mind was wrapped around too many other things. Troy finally stands up tall and runs back down to the other side of the court. Zeke passes him the ball and Troy tries to take a three, but it just air balls. He groans and runs back to the other side of the court and tries to play defense on Nate, but he takes a perfect shot and makes it. Troy groans again until he hears a whistle blow and the scrimmage stops. "Alright everyone bring it in." Coach Bolton yells and Troy looks at the clock to find that practice was finally over.

"You ok?" Zeke asks Troy who places his hands on his knees and closes his eyes.

"_Troy!" Gabriella pants as Troy's hand slides further up her leg._

"Fine." Troy lies and looks up at his father. He stands fully up and places his hands behind his head.

"Alright, guys. We play West High in three days. You took their championship away from them. They're going to want revenge. But is that gonna stop us?" He asks and everyone except Troy yells "No!". Troy closes his eyes again. "That's what I like to hear! I need…"

"_Gabi…" He moans in her ear and feels his hand slip under her jean skirt. She trembles beneath him and grabs his hand on her thigh. She laces their fingers and Troy sighs in frustration. _

"I need all of you to be one hundred percent focused on this weekend." He catches his father staring straight at him as he says this. It was like last year all over again, only this time, his mind wasn't focused on a musical. It was focused on Gabriella and what had happened the previous night. "Now I know you guys can do this. I have confidence in every one of you." He nods at Chad who was standing next to Troy and everyone throws their hands in the middle of the circle.

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad chants.

"_God you're so beautiful." He whispers in her ear as he softly nibbles on it._

"WILDCATS!" He hears everyone yell and he says it softly.

"_Suck up." Gabriella whispers back as she plays with the hair on the back of his neck, driving him crazy._

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad yells again.

_Troy flips her over so she's on top straddling him and begins to run his hands down the side of her waist and kisses her again. "If it gets me on your good side." He whispers back and places a strand of her hair behind her ears._

"WILDCATS!" The team yells again and Troy feels distant from his body.

_Gabriella flips him back over so she's under him and Troy crashes his lips onto hers again. His tongue swirls around in her mouth and he's hand slowly creeps up underneath her shirt. "Troy!" She moans again but that just gives Troy more drive._

"WHAT TEAM?!"

"WILDCATS!"

Chad smirks and looks up at Troy. He makes eye contact with his best friend and Troy felt more light headed than when he was playing. Chad suddenly looks at him curiously and Troy shakes his head, saying he'd tell him later.

"WILDCATS!"

_Troy moves his hands away from her chest and slips down lower again. They rest on her hip for awhile while Gabriella's hands were roaming around under his shirt, tracing the lines of his muscles. "Oh God Gabi." He breaks their kiss to say and then returns his lips back onto hers. He could feel her leg wrap around his and he makes his decision to give her what it seems like she was asking for. His fingers on his right hand move to the center of her jean skirt and try to unbutton her skirt._

"GET'CHA HEAD IN THE GAME!" The team yells and cheers as everyone then runs happily to the locker room. Troy walks slowly and when he finally reaches the door, he opens it to hear everyone pumped for the game. He walks in further and goes over to where his locker was and sits down on the bench that was there. His hands come up and he places his head inside them, closing his eyes to see Gabriella's own face with wide eyes.

"_Troy!" She yells, her eyes flashing open with surprise. Gabriella sits up and pushes him off of her. She runs her fingers through her hair and Troy sits there, not sure what to say or do. _

"_Gabi…" He starts and places a hand on her shoulder. She immediately stands up and moves over to her mirror and looks at it. Troy continues to sit on her bed and stares at her. She straightens her cami and skirt and then tries to fix her hair, looking anywhere but at him._

"_Have you seen my shirt?" She asks and looks around at the floor, refusing to look at him. Troy looks over to see it was in the corner of the bed. He reaches over and grabs it, then finally gets up off her bed._

"_Here." He says and hands it to her. She doesn't look up into his eyes. What was going on? A moment ago she was fine, and now… she wouldn't even look at him. She starts to turn away but Troy grabs her shoulders. "Gabriella… what's going on?"_

_Gabriella looks over his shoulder and not up into his eyes. "Nothing. I just think we have to finish our homework. I still have math and we've been taking a break for…" She looks to the side at the alarm clock sitting on her desk. "Forty-five minutes. And my book is…." She begins to talk to herself and tries to wiggle out of Troy's grasp but he places his hands on either side of her cheeks gently and forces her to look up into his crystal blue eyes._

"_You know you can talk to me ok?" He says and she nods, keeping her eyes on his finally. "Come on, let's talk." He says and Gabriella shakes her head._

"_There's nothing to talk about ok?" She says trying to convince him, but it wasn't working. Gabriella sighs and places her arms around his neck. "Everything great." She says and Troy doesn't believe her, but didn't want to push her. "I promise." She whispers and leans up to give him a soft kiss._

"Troy!" At the sound of his name, he turns around to see that Chad was standing there looking at him. He gives his best friend a weak smile and Chad sits down on the bench opposite to him. He sighs and looks up at Troy. "What's going on? You haven't been this distracted from the game since Gabriella first moved here."

Troy sighs and nods. "Can I ask you something… personal?" He asks looking from left to right as if someone else was listening to their conversation. Chad scrunches his eyebrows and nods.

"I guess." He says and Troy takes a deep breath.

"When did you and Taylor start… umm… you know… messing around?" Troy asks and Chad shrugs.

"We started making out like a month after…" He starts but Troy shakes his head.

"No… I mean…" He starts and Chad's eyes grow wider.

"Oh… you mean that." He says and Troy nods. "Um… the first time was three weeks before school started. We were hanging out at my house and my parents were out to dinner and…"

"I don't need details." Troy says and Chad chuckles. "Was she freaked out when you guys first started doing it? I mean, not the whole thing… but you know… like…" He holds up his hand and waves his fingers and Chad rolls his eyes.

"What happened?" He asks and Troy sighs.

"I went over to Gabi's last night to do homework…" Chad raises his eyebrows and Troy rolls his eyes. "Yea, I know, you were right. Anyways, we got distracted and just making out… but then I started to unbutton her skirt and she just got up. No explanation, nothing. When I told her we should talk about it… she said everything was fine and there was nothing to talk about. It's not like her to not want to talk about something."

Chad nods. "Have you told her yet?"

Troy raises his eyebrows and looks at Chad confused. "Told her what?"

"About Madison." Troy's heart drops. He shakes his head and looks at the ground. "Dude, you have to tell her. I'm sure she's probably questioning it. I mean, you are the king around here." Troy looks away at this comment. "She's probably scared that you expect something from her,"

"But I don't!" Troy says returning his gaze back to his best friend. "I waited that long to kiss her, you think after like… two months I'd force her to have sex with me?"

"Dude, I know… I know." Chad says and Troy sighs in frustration. "Well… do you want to?"

Troy sighs again. "What guy doesn't?" He says and runs his fingers through his hair. "Of course I want to, maybe not even full blown sex but just other stuff… I don't know. I just… I want what she wants." Troy finishes. "If she wants it, then I'll give it to her. But if she doesn't, then I'll wait."

"You know, you're a lot bigger guy than a lot of people out there." Chad says and Troy smiles in thanks. "You have to tell her though."

Troy scratches the back of his neck. "I don't want her to think of me differently." Chad cocks an eyebrow at his comment.

"What do you mean?" He asks and Troy looks down again.

"I don't want her to think I'm dirty or only in this for that." He says and sighs. "I'm not. I know she hasn't done anything. She said that she hadn't had a relationship for more that three months before me since she moved all the time. I just feel… I feel like I let her down."

Chad shakes his head. "Dude, she's not going to break up with you or anything because of it. You were a sophomore. You were young and stupid. She knows that."

"I know she won't break up with me, but I know Gabi." Troy says and runs his fingers through his hair again. "She'll think of it every time she sees me. It will always be in the back of her mind. I just don't want to hurt her… I…I love her."

Chad's eyes pop open. "Whoa, dude. You haven't even told her yet."

Troy nods. "I know. But I do." He says and swears he sees a smile on Chad's face. "What?"

"Nothing. Look, I don't know, but I think you gotta tell her about Madison. If you don't and she finds out some other way, she's gonna be pissed." Chad says and Troy nods and stands. Chad follows and pats Troy on the back. "Have you talked to her at all today?"

Troy shrugs. "Barely. I didn't get to see her much. Just when we were all at lunch. God… what if she's pissed or something?"

"Gabs is forgiving, just tell her and everything will be ok."

"I'll tell her if it comes up." Troy agrees to and Chad sighs.

"Fair enough." Chad responds and starts to walk out of the locker room which was empty now.

"Chad!" Troy calls and Chad turns his head around. "Thanks. This means a lot to me. You know, Tay's underestimated you. You really are good at love advice." He says and Chad smiles back at him.

"What are brothers for?"

* * *

Gabriella closes her locker and sighs. She turns over to see Taylor and Chloe standing there and then looks around at the empty hallway. She and Taylor had to stay after school to work stuff for the scholastic decathlon team that was going to start in January after the break. Chloe was staying to work on a project and then helped the other two girls out. Gabriella had been silent for most of the time, thinking about what happened yesterday at her house. She was scared now. It wasn't that she thought Troy was going to force anything on her, but she just felt that he knew exactly what he was doing. What if Troy was getting bored of her because she wouldn't go any farther then where they were now? She was scared after what happened yesterday that he would think she was a prude. But she knew she wasn't ready to have sex with him. No way. Doing other things with him? She wasn't sure what she wanted with that. She didn't know if she wanted to go maybe a little further then where they were at now or not. 

"Gabs, honey?" Taylor says and Gabriella jumps as she brings her out of her thoughts. She had told both Chloe and Taylor what had happened but that was it. Sure, Kelsi and Sharpay were her really good friends, but not as good as Chloe or Taylor. "Come on, Chad brought me to school today and I want to meet him."

"Ok, I'll just see you tomorrow then." Gabriella says quickly and turns in the opposite direction of the gym but Taylor and Chloe each grab a shoulder and spin her back around.

"Come on, you know you want to see him." Chloe says and Gabriella shakes her head. "Gabs, did he ask you to do anything?" She shakes her head again. "See? I'm sure he was just caught up in the moment."

"I just don't want to let him down. Or disappoint him. Or make him bored. Or have him think I'm prude. Or…" She keeps going but Taylor holds her hand up.

"Troy's not like that. Look how long he waited just to kiss you? I really don't think he's gonna think you're prude if you don't want to do anything right now." She says and then takes Gabriella's arm. "Come on." She says and Gabriella sighs.

"I guess your right." She says and the three girls begin to walk down the stairs.

"So why is the game on Saturday instead of tomorrow?" Chloe asks and Gabriella assumes it's to take her mind off of what she was thinking about.

"It's tradition. The first game East and West High play against each other, they play it on a Saturday instead of a Friday. I think Chad said it started the year Coach Bolton was playing and has been there ever since. Plus, tomorrow's the last day before winter break. Maybe they just wanted to hold it off until Saturday." Taylor informs them as they reach the bottom of the steps. They turn the corner to head toward the gym when Gabriella feels herself run into someone and falls to the ground.

"Ouch." She says and looks up to see Bridget smirking.

"Oh, it's you." The cheerleading captain spits out. Gabriella stands up, not wanting to feel inferior and narrows her eyes. There weren't many people she hated, but Bridget defiantly made that list. She was standing with, of course, Jackie and Gretchen.

"Come on Gabs, Chad and Troy are probably waiting." Taylor says and grabs her arm as Bridget laughs.

"I doubt Troy would be waiting for you." She says and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"Incase you haven't been here for almost two months, they're dating, so I'm pretty sure he would be." Chloe says and Gabriella continues to glare at her. "Let's go." She says and pushes Gabriella through the three.

"So has he gotten bored of you yet?" Bridget calls after her and Gabriella feels herself immediately turn around. She narrows her eyes and takes a few steps forward, getting up in Bridget's face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella asks with attitude and Bridget smirks.

"He must be getting bored of your little school girl games." She says with a smirk again. "I've been saying since the beginning of the year, it's only a matter of time before he's gonna get sick of you and go after someone who will give him what he wants." Bridget flips her hair and Gabriella could feel fear and anger running through her veins. Was what she was saying true?

"Troy's not like that." She says and shakes her head. "So stay away from him." She spits out and turns on her heels in the other direction.

"Do you even know how far he's gone?" Bridget asks in a threatening voice. Gabriella stays still and feels her eyes get wide. She looks up at Chloe and Taylor whose eyes were narrowed on the girl behind her. Bridget takes a few steps around Gabriella so she's standing in front again. "Has he told you anything?"

Gabriella could feel the fear running through her body. Did Bridget know something she didn't? She couldn't, Troy would have told her. But thoughts from last night kept running through her head. He seemed to know EXACTLY what he was doing. Did he really keep something this big from her? "It's none of your business what Troy's told me or not." She says in as much of a voice as she could muster, but it wasn't much. Bridget smirks and looks Gabriella up and down once more.

"Whatever you say… _Gabi_." She emphases Troy's nickname for her and Gabriella feels her hand rise to slap her. But she feels another hand grab hers before her hand could connect to Bridget's face. Gabriella looks over to see Taylor pulling at her arm.

"She's not worth it." She says and Gabriella narrows her eyes.

"Don't EVER call me that again." She spits out and feels Taylor finally drag her away from the cheerleader. They walk down the hallway and Chloe shakes her head.

"She's a bitch Gabs, don't listen to a word she says." But Gabriella was thinking differently. What if Bridget was right? She had been at school with Troy longer. What if she knew about Troy's past when he hadn't even bothered to tell her himself. She had to get out of the school. Gabriella knew she couldn't see Troy when she was feeling like this. Tears were forming in her eyes as she thinks of him keeping such a huge secret behind her back.

The boy's locker room door opens and Chad walks out. He smiles at the three of them and walks over to Taylor and gives her an open mouth kiss. "Hey hottie."

"Hey Chad." Her best friend and Chloe say at the same time and Chad places his arm around Taylor.

"Gabs! Troy will be out in a minute." "He says and looks at the locker room door. Gabriella shakes her head and starts to walk quickly in the direction of the stairs.

"I have to go." She says and tries to keep her voice steady. She suddenly hears the locker room door swing open again and she bursts into a run. She didn't want Troy to see her crying because then he'd ask what was wrong and she'd have to tell him. Then she would find out for sure.

Gabriella runs up the stairs and then breaks into a walk, hoping Troy didn't see her or they didn't tell him she was there. But she hears a squeak of shoes behind her. "GABI!" Troy's voice echoes in the hallway and Gabriella reflexively speeds up. But with another squeak of shoes she suddenly sees Troy panting in front of her and grabs her shoulders. She tries to blink the tears out of her eyes, but his hand lifts up and wipes them off of her face. Gabriella suddenly tenses up. Who else had he touched? Who else had he acted this way towards? "What's wrong?" He asks in a soft voice and Gabriella shakes her head, wiping her eyes.

"Nothing. There was dust in the stairway. I'm fine." She lies and Troy shakes his head.

"Don't lie to me." He says and kisses her forehead. "Come on, talk to me."

"No Troy, I swear it's nothing." She says trying to sound convincing. He wipes another tear from her face. "I have to go." Gabriella says and Troy shakes his head.

"I'll take you home." He responds but Gabriella smiles up at him softly.

"I have my car." She says and Troy closes his eyes.

"Ok… then I guess I'll call you tonight?" He says more as a question then a statement. She nods and Troy's lips lean down to meet hers. Gabriella closes her eyes. 'Who else have those lips touched?' She thinks to herself and then pulls away. Troy looks down at her with his crystal blue eyes and closes them.

"Bye Troy." She says and moves out of his grasp toward the front doors, leaving Troy standing alone and confused.


	38. Someday

Gabriella quickly runs into the locker room before anyone else. Troy had called her almost as soon as she got home last night, but she kept the conversation short. She had barely talked to him all day despite his multiple attempts to. She knew it wasn't right to act this way, especially since it was one of the most important games of the season tomorrow. But she couldn't talk to him. She was afraid of what he would say when the conversation came up. Gabriella quickly strips her shorts off and had her jeans half way on when Chloe, Shannon, and Mandy walk into the locker room also. "You've got to talk to him." Chloe says simply and Gabriella shakes her head.

"No." She says softly and Chloe spins the combination on her locker.

"Yes. You do. You should see him out there." Chloe points to the door as she says this and sighs. "He thinks you hate him."

"I don't hate him! I'm just scared." She whispers and puts her shirt on. Chloe turns to look at her and sighs.

"Gabs, honey, the UCLA scout is coming tomorrow. And Chad said he's a wreck! You have to talk to him." She says and shakes her head. "So what if what Bridget says is true? Would that make you like him any less?"

Gabriella immediately shakes her head and Chloe smiles. "Never. I just… I don't want to find out he's been hiding it from me." She says and Chloe sighs.

"I understand, but think of it from his side. How is that going to come up in a conversation? 'Yea, I'm so excited for the basketball season… oh by the way, I'm not a virgin.' If it was true, and I'm not saying it is, but if it was true… he'd probably want to wait for the right time to tell you." She says and Gabriella takes a deep breath and nods.

"Can't it wait?" She asks and Chloe shakes her head. She knew she was being extremely selfish toward him, but she didn't want to actually hear him say it.

"You need to talk to him now." Chloe says as she takes off her gym shirt and replaces it with her school one.

"Ok… your right. I'll go tell him I'll talk to him after practice." She says and takes another deep breath. Chloe smiles brightly.

"Good luck." She says as Gabriella walks out the locker room doors back into the gym. The bell goes off and she hears the bouncing of a basketball and sighs as she sees Troy in a black shirt which he cut off the sleeves to and blue basketball shorts. He takes a shot and misses, and then Gabriella hears him groan. She stands at half court and Troy gets his rebound. He turns around and looks up with his eyes locking on her.

"Gabi…" He says and Gabriella takes a few steps forward. He meets her there and grabs her hand.

"What are you doing after practice?" She asks and Troy laces their fingers. She sighs at his touch. He leans down and rests his forehead on hers.

"Nothing." He says simply but looks ecstatic that she's actually talking to him. Suddenly… the boy's locker room doors open and Gabriella could see the team starting to come out. Troy glances over and then looks back into her eyes.

"We have to talk." She says quietly and he nods.

"I know." He whispers back.

"Montez, you joining the team?" She hears one of the guys yell and Troy's eyes shoot up in anger.

"Troy!" She says getting his attention again and his eyes drop back down to her. "When do you want to?

"Miss. Montez, it's practice, you need to leave the gym." She hears Coach Bolton's voice echo in the gym. She could feel all eyes on her but that didn't stop her. For once, being in front of a crowd didn't matter to her.

"Meet me at my house at five thirty. If I'm not there, the code to the garage is 2114. Just go inside and meet me in there." Troy says and Gabriella nods.

"Gabriella!" Coach Bolton's angry voice echoes again. She turns away but Troy's hand grabs her before she could go anywhere. "TROY!"

"I'M COMING!" Troy yells back angrily and then lightly kisses Gabriella on the lips. She could hear a bunch of yells and whistles coming from the team as she pulls away. "I'll see you then." Finally, she gets out of Troy's grasp and runs towards the doors of the gym.

"Thanks to Romeo, everyone is going to run ten laps! I need you guys to be focused…" She hears Coach Bolton's voice echo before the door shuts and she immediately feels guilty for getting Troy in trouble. But had to talk to him otherwise she knew that his game would be screwed. She walks down the empty hallway and makes her way up the stairs to her locker, almost wishing the time would go slower than what it was.

* * *

5:27. It's what the clock said in Gabriella's car. She pulls up into the driveway to find all of the lights of the house turned off and the garage was closed. She sighs and gets out, following Troy's orders by going up to the garage door code and typing in "2114" The door springs to life and opens. Gabriella looks inside to see all three cars were missing and she walks straight in and opens the door to the house. She shuts the garage door and then steps inside. Not really sure what to do or where to go in her boyfriend's empty house, she sets her purse on the table and looks around. The house was silent, and it felt strange. Deciding that she didn't want to wait in the kitchen, she slowly makes her way to the stairs and begins to walk up. Each stair creeks as she reaches the top and makes her way to Troy's room that was at the end of the hallway.

Gabriella opens the door further and sighs. She looks around his room, like she had done so many times before. Her body sits down on his bed, when a sudden thought comes to her. What if he had done something with another girl in this bed? She quickly stands and then moves away from it and looks down at the familiar picture of them at homecoming. She suddenly hears a noise come from down stairs and a door slams. Footsteps echo from down below and she swears she hears keys drop on the table. "Gabi?" A voice echoes through out the house and she sighs.

"I'm up here!" Gabriella yells and then hears the footsteps on the stairs and they make their way into his room. She looks up from the homecoming picture and sees Troy standing in his doorway with wet hair and was wearing jeans and a white Hollister long sleeved shirt. He gives her a soft smile, which she returns. "I see your mom finally got the second roll of homecoming pictures developed." She says making small conversation.

"Yea, she wants to show them off at Christmas." Troy responds and Gabriella suddenly remembers that today was the last day before Christmas break. "Come here." He says and holds out his hand. Gabriella sighs and sets down the picture. She walks over and grabs it. Troy laces their fingers as they sit down on the bed and Gabriella looks down. "Let me start…"

Gabriella shakes her head. "No. I'm sorry I've been avoiding you for the past couple of days. I've just been… thinking about a lot." She says and Troy nods.

"It's ok… I understand." He responds and Gabriella continues to stare at his blue comforter. She couldn't look up at him. "Should I ask what you were thinking about?" He asks and that finally brings her head up. She closes her eyes and opens them back up again.

"I have to ask you something." She says and Troy nods. "And I need you to be honest with me ok?" Troy gives her hand a squeeze and she sighs. She didn't want to. Maybe she could just ask him something else? No… she needed to know. "Are you a… are you… Troy… are you a virgin?" She finally gets out and realizes how stupid that just sounded. But Troy doesn't seem to think so. As soon as it came out, his eyes shut immediately. That wasn't a very good sign.

"I knew that was it." Troy whispers and opens his eyes again. He signs and looks down at the comforter. "First, what I'm about to say, I don't want you to think any differently of me ok?" He asks and Gabriella's heart drops. That was the second bad sign. "Promise me." He says and his eyes look back up and lock with hers.

"I promise." She whispers and Troy nods.

"Today's someday." He says randomly and Gabriella raises her eyebrow. What did that mean?

"I don't understand…" She starts and Troy squeezes her hand again to shut her up.

"I told you the morning of homecoming that someday I would tell you why I act the way I do when people mess with me. It wasn't ready to come out then, but it is now." He says and then sighs.

"What does this have to do…" She starts but Troy shakes his head.

"It will all make sense in the end ok? Just bare with me. You remember Madison right?" He asks and Gabriella nods. "Well, it was the night we won the last game to let us to into the playoffs sophomore year. Madison and I went to a party…" Troy explains the story about how he found Madison cheating on him. He gives some background information on how they were before, and how their relationship was on the rocks. Gabriella sits there and listens, not really sure what this has anything to do with what she asked him. But she sits there and listens anyway. "… and after the fight, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let people take advantage of me like that again. That's why I was so pissed around homecoming."

Gabriella stares at him for a moment and then takes a deep breath. "I understand. And I'm glad you've finally told me… but Troy, this doesn't have anything to do with what I asked you." She says confused and Troy looks down again.

"It has everything to do with it." He says and Gabriella gives his hand a squeeze as if to tell him to look at her. His crystal blue eyes look up and Gabriella's heart melts. There were tears welled up in his eyes. "I was stupid, and a sophomore. I just… I don't even know why I went along with it." Gabriella's heart stops. She knew what he was going to say next. He wouldn't be making a big deal out of this if it wasn't true. "I slept with her a week before she cheated on me."

Even though she knew it was coming, Gabriella still feels a lump form in her throat and her heart comes to a complete halt. Her instinct reaction forces her to drop hands with Troy and she just stares at him. Her eyes were dry, unlike his which still had tears welled up in them.

"I know you're mad, and you have every right to be. But I didn't even know you at the time, and God, you don't know how sorry I am." He says and grabs her hand again. It was weak in his touch. Even though she knew it, she was still in shock to have it confirmed. She looks up at him, and saw someone different. Yes, she promised, but she couldn't help it. Troy didn't seem as innocent anymore. He just seemed… different. "Come on Gabi talk to me."

She was silent. She didn't even know what to say to this. Was she mad? No, of course not. She couldn't get mad at him for this. But she didn't know how to think, or feel. "I don't know what to say." Gabriella states honestly.

"Are you pissed?" He asks, their eyes locking again. She shakes her head and sighs.

"I'm not mad. I just don't know what to think." This was the truth. She didn't know what to think. Bridget had sort of given it away yesterday, but she was still in shock. "I guess I knew." She says and looks down. "I mean, your Troy Bolton, every girl wants you. So… you have to give it to them right?" She says and Troy closes his eyes and sighs.

"I don't care if I'm Troy Bolton. I really don't." He says and opens his eyes again. "I don't give a fuck if every other fucking girl wants me. Hell, they could promise a full ride to UCLA, my own room with a view, and a spot on the Lakers and I still wouldn't be with them. Because you're the only one I want." He says and places a hand on her cheek. "I care about you too much."

Gabriella finally feels her eyes get wet. Troy wipes the pad of his thumb to try and clear her tears. She leans forward and wraps her arms around his neck. He moves backwards until his back rests against his basketball headboard and Gabriella lays her head on his chest. She was disappointed that he would give something away that easily and that he kept it behind her back all this time. Even as he strokes her hair, she couldn't help but think of him as loosing his innocence. She knew it was just getting time to get used to wrapping her mind around this, but it still felt weird.

They sit that way for about an hour in silence, just Troy stroking her hair and Gabriella listening to his heart beat. Finally, she sits up and turns to him. "I should go. My mom is probably wondering where I am."

"Call her. Please, I don't want you to go." He begs but Gabriella shakes her head.

"I need to go Troy. I need to think about some things." She says and suddenly Troy looks scared.

"You not gonna break…" He starts but she shakes her head.

"No Troy. I just need to be by myself ok? I'll see you tomorrow at the game." She says as she watches Troy's face relax a little. She stands up and opens the door to leave.

"I'll call you." He says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"Please Troy, I just need to think alright?"

He sighs and closes his eyes again. "I'm sorry." He whispers and Gabriella looks at him. He was looking down and Gabriella sighs, knowing she couldn't leave him like this on the eve of one of the most important games of his life. She walks back over and Troy looks up again.

"I know." She says and grabs the side of his face. "I'm not mad ok? I just need to think about some other things." She leans down and places her lips onto his. His hand grabs the back of her head and she finally breaks away. He leans his forehead up against hers and sighs. "Good luck tomorrow."

"Are you still coming?" He asks as if what he just told her made him a virus that she couldn't be near.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She says and kisses him lightly again. Gabriella then turns around and walks out the bedroom door without looking back. As soon as she gets her purse, she walks out the door and gets into her car. Her hand pulls out her cell phone and dials a familiar number. She pulls out of Troy's driveway before finally getting an answer

"Hello?"

"Are you doing anything right now?" She asks the guy on the other line.

"I'm at my girlfriend's…"

"Great, that's even better. I need to talk to both of you. Tell her I'm coming over in five minutes." She says and doesn't wait for an answer. She hangs up and drives to the familiar house that was, as she said, five minutes away. She sees his car in her driveway and walks up to ring the doorbell. A few seconds later, the front door opens and Taylor stands there looking at her. "Hey Tay."

Taylor gives her a reassuring smile and opens the door further "Hey Gabs." She responds and Gabriella walks inside the house. "My parents are at dinner."

Gabriella's eyes grow wide for a second. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you guys." She says and then hears another voice echo throughout the house.

"If it was anyone else, I'd tell them to go away." Chad says standing in the hallway and smiles at her. "Are you alright? You sounded exasperated on the phone." Gabriella's eyes grow wide and she looks at Taylor with a smile,

"Your boyfriend just said a word that was longer than two syllables!" She exclaims and Chad rolls his eyes.

"That's what happens when you have a brain for a girlfriend." He says as his arm drapes around Taylor. "Come on." He says to the two girls as leads them into the living room where Gabriella could see the TV was playing a movie. 'At least they weren't in a bedroom.' Gabriella thinks to herself but that was a mistake since all that did was remind her of Troy. Gabriella sits on the couch as Chad sits down on a chair and Taylor takes her place on his lap. "Alright, what's up?"

Gabriella sighs. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" She asks and Chad sighs, evidently knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Tell you what?" Taylor asks both of them.

"It wasn't my place. He had to tell you himself otherwise he would have killed me." Chad responds and shakes his head. "So that's why you were there at practice?"

"Why were you at their practice? What's going on?" Taylor asks both of them again.

"Yeah. I went over to his house after school and he told me." Gabriella says and Taylor looks at them confused again.

"Told you what?" Taylor asks sounding irritated now.

"Are you pissed?" Chas asks as Taylor sighs.

"Pissed about what?"

Gabriella shakes her head. "I'm not pissed… just disappointed. I don't get why he would wait this long to tell me."

"Someone PLEASE tell ME what's going on!" Taylor finally yells.

"Troy told Gabriella…" Chad starts and Gabriella sighs.

"That he slept with Madison." She finishes and Taylor's mouth forms a shape of an "o".

"He didn't want to hurt you. Troy told me he was going to tell you if it came up. He was scared that you were going to think of him differently." Chad states and sighs. "He loves you… you know that right?"

Gabriella feels her eyes start to well up with tears, but then blinks them away. "He doesn't love me."

"Yea he does. He told me yesterday. And Gabs, you should have seen the look in his eyes. He doesn't want to hurt you." Chad says and Gabriella sighs. She knew the last thing Troy wanted to do after the whole Lava Springs incident was to hurt her. But she still couldn't help but see him in a new light. "Do you still love him?"

Gabriella remembers telling Chad that she loved him the night of homecoming. She nods slowly and looks down at her hands, finding them more interesting than before. "I don't mean to think about him differently, I just can't help it. Troy's the nice guy that everyone loves. I've been to a lot of schools where the most popular guy lets that get to his head and they take advantage of other people. Troy' isn't like that at all. I just… it makes him seem less innocent to me. Maybe I'm just too innocent myself."

Taylor shakes her head. "No Gabs, your not."

"Troy said himself yesterday that he wanted what you wanted, and if you didn't want to have sex with him, then he respects that." Chad states and Gabriella nods.

"It just proves that Troy Bolton is human. He makes mistakes just like everyone else. He's no different from you or I. But is this going to make you love him any less?" Taylor chimes in.

Gabriella, without hesitation, shakes her head and sighs. "No. It's just going to be a little hard to get used to. But you're right. It happened two years ago. I guess it was just the shock of it." She says and both Taylor and Chad nod. "Thanks guys." Gabriella says and both of them smile.

"Anytime." Chad says and Gabriella smiles.

"By the way, when did you become a love expert?" She asks and all three of them laugh.

"When I started dating this hottie." He says and gives Taylor a passionate kiss.

"And that's my cue to leave." Gabriella says and the couple breaks apart. "Thanks again. And good luck tomorrow Chad!" She says and waves, thankful for her great friends.


	39. It's Gonna Be Ok

Troy's head was in his hands. He couldn't do this. The UCLA scout was outside this very locker room at this very moment. Troy could feel his body trembling on the bench. The rest of the locker room was dead silent as all of them finished putting on their white warm ups. Troy's eyes were shut. He knew he should say something to the team, but he couldn't. He was too nervous and too stressed out about everything in his life right now. Just as Gabriella asked him not to, he didn't call her last night nor today. It was driving him crazy just thinking about what had happened yesterday. He hadn't seen nor spoken to her in over twenty-four hours. They hadn't gone that long since before they were going out.

"Troy…" He hears a voice echo above him and looks up to see Chad. He knew he looked like a mess, probably because that's exactly what he was right now. A mess. "Dude, the team is silent, you gotta say something. Everyone's really nervous."

"Chad, there's a UCLA scout sitting out there right now. My girlfriend thinks the only thing I do in my spare time is screw other girls. My future depends on this game!" He says, trying to be quiet and not let the rest of the team hear him breaking down. "I can't do this shit anymore."

Chad shakes his head. "Dude, it's ok. You aren't superman. Hell, I'm scared as fuck for this scout, but I know you and the guys are gonna make me look ten times better than I am. We've already beaten West High in the championships. And, if it makes you feel any better, I walked out there during the JV game to say hi to Tay, and Gabs is sitting in the front row with your red jersey on." Chad says and pats him on the back. "We're all in this together right?"

Troy smiles the biggest smile he could muster and stands up. "We're all in this together." He repeats and they hug. "Dude, when have you become such an inspirational speaker?" Troy asks and Chad laughs.

"I'm gonna make a t-shirt that says, 'It all started because of Taylor' because everyone's been asking me questions like that lately!" He jokes and they walk down the locker room to see all the guys sitting on the benches, all wide-eyed and looking nervous. Troy sighs and looks at Chad, who nods.

"I'm not gonna lie to you." Troy starts talking loudly and everyone looks up at him. "West High's back, and they're looking for revenge after we took their title away from them last season. They're hungry, trust me." Troy says and looks up at Chad, remembering their encounter with Brad at the pizza place. "But guess what? They're on our turf. It's our school, our hardwood, our nets. Our school is out there, in our stands. We've proven we can beat them. Just work on what we've been doing in practice, and we got this." He pauses again. "I'm putting my faith in you guys tonight. I want this. And I know all of you do too. I know we can beat them tonight. So let's show them how the Wildcats play basketball!" He ends and everyone smiles and nods. He looks at Chad who was smirking.

"Everyone ready?" Troy turns around to see his dad standing in the locker room doorway, smiling at what Troy had just said. "Let's go."

"WHAT TEAM?!" Chad yells and everyone forms a huge circle. They finish their cheer and then everyone runs out onto the court, yelling and cheering. The five starters each take a basketball from the rack and they begin a shooting a rebound drill to warm up. He looks over at the opposite side of the court and watches as Brad makes eye contact with him. They both narrow their eyes and then return to their warm ups. After ten minutes, they stop and Troy looks over to see Sharpay wasn't in the stands like normal. She was standing in front of the crowd with the microphone in her hands.

"And now…" The announcer starts and the gym becomes silent. "Your very own Sharpay Evans singing the National Anthem."

Sharpay begins singing and Troy smiles at Zeke who was beaming. Feeling his nerves get to him again, he takes his eyes off of the flag that was sitting in the corner of the gym and looks up into the crowd to see on the top bleachers was three guys in suits. He knew one of them was from UCLA and it scared him. Troy's body starts to shake and he has to move his legs to keep them from locking up. His eyes move down from the scouts to the front row of the bleachers and sighs. Gabriella looked gorgeous even though she was just wearing his jersey, black shorts, red soccer socks and her hair in pigtail braids. Her eyes, feeling someone else's on her, move onto his and they lock. She gives him a small smile and a small thumbs up before returning her eyes back to the flag. Well, at least she wasn't ignoring him.

The crowd cheers as Sharpay finishes and takes a bow. "Thank you Sharpay. Now, from the West High Knights, number 17 Jake…" Troy watches as the student section turns their backs to the court as they go through the first four players of West High. Finally, he hears the last name that makes his eyes narrow. "And West High's captain, number 38 Brad Trent!"

A round of booing erupts from the crowd as Brad's eyes look over and lock with Troy's. It was as if almost all of the sound in the gym had been sucked out as they make eye contact. It was at that moment that Troy knew Brad wasn't in it for playing the game. He wanted blood. No, scratch that. He wanted Troy's blood.

"And your Wildcats senior captain… number 14…TROY BOLTON!" The announcer roars, breaking Troy from his trance and he runs over toward the rest of the starters and jumps up and down. Maybe he was just imagining things, but Troy swears her hears Gabriella's voice scream his name louder than the rest… but he didn't have high hopes on that one.

Troy walks up to the center line to shake hands with Brad before the game starts. The opposite captain in all blue and gold smirks as he struts to the line, "Bolton."

"Trent." Troy spits out as he raises his hand. Brad raises his own and they both close on the other's, neither one breaking eye contact because that shows weakness.

"Revenge is a bitch." Brad spits out and his grip on Troy's hand becomes harder. Troy returns the same amount of pressure.

"Yea? So is getting beaten twice." Troy says and feels Brad's grip tighten again.

"Guys, let's go!" The ref yells while walking toward the center. They finally let go at the same time but keep their eyes locked. They walk toward the same side of the court, getting ready for Zeke and Nick to battle for the jump ball, since they were both point guards and knew they would be guarding each other anyways. The ref blows his whistle.

"Loosing is bitch too. You're going down." Brad spits out right before the ball is released from the ref's hands and is thrown into the air. Nick manages to tip it forward to one of his teammates and the Knights gain control of the ball. He passes it to Brad, and Troy begins to guard him. Within the first ten seconds, he takes a shot and makes it in with a _swoosh_.

"Fuck." Troy says to himself and Chad grabs the ball to pass it back in to Troy.

"Don't worry about it." Chad yells and checks the ball in to Troy. He begins to walk while dribbling, giving Chad time to get into position and then makes his move. He charges toward the basket and goes in for a lay up while Nate tries to screen Brad. But Brad manages to get around it and while Troy jumps up in the air, Brad elbows him in the stomach. Troy looses balance and doubles over grabbing his stomach.

The whistle blows and Troy sees Zeke standing over him. He grabs his outstretched hand and feels himself being pulled up. "Watch it 38." The ref says to Brad and he shrugs innocently. Troy goes up to the line and quickly glances over at the stands to see Gabriella's concerned face. He nods to her, trying to tell her he's fine, and then turns back to the ref who passes him the ball. He makes both shots and sighs. It was going to be a long game.

* * *

He knew, even though Brad was trying to beat him up every chance he got, Troy was playing one of the best games of his life. Into the third quarter, Troy dribbles the ball down the court and passes it to Nate. He moves to try to get into an open position as he sees Nate pass to Zeke. He dribbles for awhile before passing it to Chad. Chad takes a shot, but bounces off the rim. Troy goes in to grab the rebound but as Brad gets his fingers on it, they both come down and Brad "accidentally" elbows Troy in the mouth. His head flies back and suddenly hears his dad shout. "COME ON REF!" Troy tastes a warm liquid seeping from his gums as the two teams begin to run toward the other side of the court. He begins to run to the other side as he puts two fingers in his mouth and pulls them out to see blood on them. Troy runs back into position of guarding Brad as the ball goes out of bounds. Jason grabs the ball and passes it in to Chad when suddenly the whistle blows. 

"Time out, Wildcats." The ref states and Troy sighs. He looks over to see Brad smirking as they both walk back to their benches.

"Had enough yet?" He asks and Troy narrows his eyes at the other captain.

"Not even close." Troy says as he walks back to where his teammates were. He looks up at the stands to see Gabriella's eyes full of worry. He shakes his head and returns it back to where his father was standing. Troy grabs a white towel and wipes his face. He looks down at the towel when he was done to see that his own blood left a small red blotch on the towel.

"Come on guys, we're up by five points. They're playing man to man so we should run…" Coach Bolton tells them the drill they should run and finally puts his hands in the center. "You can do this. On three… one, two, three."

"WILDCATS!" The team yells and Troy begins to walk out onto the court, but he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to see his dad standing there.

"I'm thinking about taking you out." He says and Troy's eyes grow wide.

"No! Dad, the scout…" Troy starts.

"You've played a beautiful game. Anyone would be impressed. But Trent is going after you and the ref has stopped calling all of his fouls, since he has one more before he fouls out. I don't need you hurt for the rest of the season." Coach Bolton says but Troy looks up at him with pleading eyes.

"Dad, please…" He says and Coach Bolton sighs.

"Fine. But be careful." He says as Troy runs back onto the court, not paying attention. The ball gets put back into play and the Wildcats score another basket. Jake passes the ball in to Brad and Troy begins to put pressure on him. He drives into the basket, but Troy avoids the screen that was attempted for him and knocks the ball away from Brad, but Brad's fingertips touch the ball last. Troy feels his eyes connect with Brads as Troy smirks, taunting him. Big mistake there.

Chad passes the ball in to Troy and he slowly takes it down the court. He passes the ball to Jason and runs to get an open spot. He feels Brad's shoulder ram into him and he stubbles back a little, but then regains balance. Chad lifts up the ball and Troy runs out into the three point area and screams at his best friend. "BALL!" Chad passes it to Troy who jumps up to take the shot.

It was like it all happened in slow motion. Troy's feet leave the ground as the ball leaves his fingertips. As he watches to see if it makes it, he feels a body ram into his stomach. His body moves backwards in the air and Troy reflexively turns and holds out his hand to break the fall. He feels his hand hit the hardwood first and the pressure building in his wrist. His eyes grow wide as he knew what was going to happen, but couldn't stop it now. Troy's world turns upside down at the sound of a _snap_.

* * *

Gabriella watches as Jason passes the ball to Zeke. It was too hard to watch. Brad was basically trying to kill her boyfriend and Troy wouldn't be subbed in. She looks up at the scout who was nodding and taking notes, and then back at the game. She had done a lot of thinking last night, and had decided that yes, it would be a weird for awhile, but she cared too much about Troy to let this come between them. She knew it would be awkward at first, but they would get over this bump in the road. They always do. 

Zeke moves around a bit and then finding that he couldn't take a shot, passes the ball to Chad. Gabriella looks over to see that Brad was shoving Troy, even though he didn't even have the ball. She knew it was their rivalry and the fact that Brad was a bastard, but she couldn't believe the ref didn't do anything to stop it. Troy finally breaks away from Brad and runs out into the three point area. Chad passes him the ball and Troy jumps up in the air. Gabriella watches in horror as Brad rams his shoulder into Troy's stomach as the ball goes into the basket. She covers her mouth as she sees Troy move backwards and lands on his wrist.

Troy's yell echoes through out the gym. Everything turns quiet and the game suddenly stops as Troy yells again, clutching his wrist. Something had to have gone wrong, because Troy was tough, and he was now lying on the ground in pain. Gabriella watches as his dad runs out onto the court and kneels down. Both teams huddle together and the Wildcats watch in horror as their captain was groaning in pain. She could see the ref pulling Brad aside and pointing to the bench, since he obviously just fouled out. The trainer had run out by Troy too, and Gabriella felt her heart drop. If he broke his wrist, it could be the end of his season. Gabriella watches as the trainer and Coach Bolton lift up Troy by his shoulders and take him into the open on the side of the court behind their basket. She sees Coach Bolton nod at the assistant coach and they put another junior point guard in for Troy. The game starts up again, but everyone was staring at the corner where Troy was sitting with the trainer and his father now.

"Oh my God." Taylor says with her hand over her mouth, which confirmed everyone was thinking the same thing. Troy's chance at a scholarship could be over now. "His senior year…" She starts and Gabriella could feel tears suddenly well up in her eyes for Troy. She suddenly sees a single cheerleader walking toward where Troy was sitting on the ground and suddenly feels anger run through her veins.

"Hell no." Gabriella says as she steps off the bleachers.

"Gabs! You can't go over there!" Taylor yells to her but Gabriella looks back.

"Watch me." She says as she half jogs over to where Bridget just walked to.

"Miss… you're gonna have to leave." Coach Bolton says and Gabriella was finally up close enough to hear Troy's groans again.

"I just want to be sure he's ok." She over hears her say sweetly but she watches Coach Bolton shrug. Troy didn't look like he knew what was going on because he kept closing his eyes and groaning.

"He appreciates that but he doesn't need an audience." Bridget turns around with a frown on her face and then sees Gabriella. Her eyes narrow on her as she walks toward her.

"You can't see him." She says angrily and Gabriella's own eyes narrow. "Coach Bolton won't let you."

"No, he won't let you. I'm his girlfriend… remember?" Gabriella spits out and shakes her head. "Stay the hell away from him." She says angrily and shoves past her. Gabriella runs over to where Troy was sitting with the back against a wall and Coach Bolton looks up at her.

"You shouldn't…" Coach Bolton starts but Gabriella shakes her head,

"With all due respect Coach Bolton, I need to stay." She says and kneels down at Troy's feet. Troy's eyes open and he looks up at his father, unaware that his girlfriend was sitting there too.

"Dad… I lost it. The scholarship… they can't…" He groans again and the trainer suddenly gets up.

"I need ice." She says and runs to the training room. Gabriella then moves over and takes her spot. She could now see that there were tears in Troy's eyes, but she doubts it was from the pain. She knew better then that.

"Oh Troy." She says and moves the hair that was sticking to his head by sweat and he looks up at her.

"Gabi…" He starts and tries to lift his good hand up to touch her face but she grabs it and laces their fingers instead. "I'm so…"

"I know." She says and kisses his sweaty forehead. "You're gonna be fine." The trainer returns and Gabriella moves out of the way and stands back a bit. She looks out to see that they were in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats were up by six with a minute left. Her eyes gaze back down to Troy. The trainer lifts up his hand that was already swollen and purple.

"Come on; let's get him to the training room." She says and Coach Bolton gives him support as Troy stands up and then lets him go as all four of them walk to the room. Gabriella hangs a little behind but was still at their heels. The buzzer sounds and Gabriella looks over to see the student section cheering since they won the game. They get into the room and the trainer shuts the door, drowning out the sounds. "Alright, you can sit up there." Troy follows her command and sits on the patient's table. Everyone knew that the trainer came from a hospital and even though she majored in physical therapy, she still saved a trip to the doctor's office. Gabriella sits down on a chair next to Coach Bolton who looked just as nervous as Troy. "Alright, let's see how bad it is."

Gabriella could have answered that question for her… bad. Troy was too tough, he always had been. This was the first time Gabriella had ever seen him in real pain. But she knew he was breaking down mentally more because of the scout. The trainer picks up Troy's bad hand and Troy cringes. "Tell me when it hurts." She says as she starts to move Troy's hand up, but Troy yells it pain before she could move it very far.

"It hurts!" He yells and the trainer sighs.

"You've fractured your wrist." The trainer says plainly and Gabriella closes her eyes. That was Troy's season gone right there. She could feel Coach Bolton shift uncomfortably in the seat next to her.

"How long is he out for?" Coach Bolton asks slowly as the trainer searches her drawers for something.

"Six weeks at the least. Maybe eight." Gabriella watches as Troy's eyes close. She felt awful for him. It was his senior year and he couldn't even play for at least half of it.

"That puts us at the playoffs." Coach Bolton says with his head in his hands. He stands up and walks over to Troy. "I'll be back… I have to go talk to the team about the game." He says as Troy nods, and Gabriella figures he was too upset for words. He leaves and the trainer finally grabs a black splint and places it around Troy's wrist. Gabriella could see his good hand grab the edge of the table probably to keep from yelling out.

"Alright, that should save you a trip to the hospital since you don't have a complete or open fracture. You can tell by…" She explains why and Gabriella drones it out because she was too busy looking at Troy's facial expressions that were in pain. "Anyways, if the pain doesn't stop when you don't move the hand in three days, then go to the hospital and get a plaster cast. I'll be right back." She says and leaves the door open as she walks out. Gabriella immediately gets up and moves in between his legs and laces his good hand with hers.

"My future is over." He says and looks down, but Gabriella shakes her head.

"You played incredible. Probably the best I've seen you play. Your future isn't over." She says and Troy leans his forehead down onto hers.

"Six weeks…" He whispers but Gabriella cuts him off by kissing him.

"Will go by before you know it." She says and he looks down. Gabriella leans up and kisses him again. "Who knows, the scout probably saw how you played before you landed on it."

"Even if he did, it doesn't matter. I'm out for six weeks. It's my senior year. Gabi… what am I gonna do?" He asks as he closes his eyes.

"Everything's going to be fine. I promise." She says, trying to reassure both herself and him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know Troy would probably have to go to the hospital, but I felt this would be ok. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! Happy New Year everyone! 


	40. Learning to Shut Up

Gabriella sat on the couch with the already opened letter in her hands. She feels another pair of hands wrap around her own and looks down to see the black splint. The Bolton family room contained ten seniors at that moment. It was the day after Christmas, and they were celebrating the holiday now. They had all decided they were going to tell each other where they were going to college today, because everyone now knew.

"Ok… who wants to go first?" Taylor asks and Zeke nods, who was sitting on the biggest couch with Sharpay.

"Alright… I'm going to U of A for Culinary school." He says and everyone smiles.

"I'm going to U of A too, since Daddy works there… it just makes sense." Sharpay says. "Then I can be with you all the time too!" She say as she looks at Zeke and everyone rolls their eyes

"Ok… I'll go next." Ryan says and plays with the letter that was in his hands. "I was going to go to U of A also, but I found out that a scout had come to the fall musical and loved my performance. So… I'm going to NYU." He says and everyone's eyes become huge.

"Ryan, that's incredible!" Everyone says and Gabriella smiles as she thinks how Ryan used to be Sharpay's poodle, and now he was going to New York by himself. She was extremely proud.

Chloe plays with the letter in her hands also. "I'm going to Stanford." She says and everyone gives her a congratulations. "Yeah, I'm gonna try to see if I can get a scholarship there for track this spring. " She states and Gabriella feels herself smile again. She knew Chloe would get one. Her face leans up more against his chest as Jason looks around.

"I'm going to U of A." He says and Kelsi nods.

"So am I."

Chad rolls his eyes and throws his letter down. "Oh man… it's my turn?" Everyone nods and laughs. "I'm going to UCLA!" He says and everyone gives him his congratulations, then they all turn to Taylor who was sitting next to him on the floor. Gabriella already knew where she was going, because they had both talked about it a couple days ago when they both got their acceptance letters.

"I'm going to USC." She states. After everyone congratulates her, their eyes all turn on the couple sitting on the small couch. Gabriella's eyes look up at Troy and she sighs.

"I'm going to USC too." Gabriella says and she looks over a Taylor. She was happy that she was going to the same school as her best friend. Then she looks back up at Troy who sighs and actually opens his letter and clears his throat.

"Well… I have good news. This came in the mail two days ago." He says and Gabriella smiles, since she had read the letter when it first came. "Umm, it basically says I'm getting a full ride to UCLA."

Everyone except Chad, Taylor and Gabriella's jaws drop. Zeke snatches the letter from Troy's good hand and his eyes scan the page rapidly. "We were extremely impressed with the game that we attended on December 22… give our sympathies for your injury… but we have concluded that you show extreme potential for our program…" He says and looks up. "Holy shit dude… you're getting a full ride!"

Gabriella looks up to see Troy beaming. After the East High vs. West High game, she went back over to his house and they talked about everything. And they both concluded that yes, it would be a little awkward for Gabriella at first, but it was something that she was just going to have to accept. He couldn't get anything back from Madison, and she accepted that. "I know… God, I thought they wouldn't take me thanks to Bradley." He says as he holds up his arm that was still in the black splint. "But I guess not." He says and then looks down at Gabriella and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"Well congrats dude." Jason says and Troy beams again.

"Thanks man."

"So, everyone's going to Nate's New Year's party next week… right?" Ryan asks and Gabriella feels Troy's eyes connect with hers. They had talked about that, not really sure they wanted to go.

"We might skip it… or leave early." Troy states and everyone looks at the couple on the couch.

"Um… why?" Sharpay asks and Troy looks down at Gabriella and smiles.

"It's our anniversary." He says and everyone raises an eyebrow at them.

"Um… Troy? If you've forgotten the date, I really don't think it's your three month since you guys just had your two…" Chloe says and Gabriella giggles.

"Not that anniversary. The anniversary of when we first met!" Gabriella states and smiles back up at Troy. She couldn't believe it would be a year next week. It seemed like yesterday she and Troy had gotten on that stage and started something new.

"Whipped!" Chad exclaims and Troy shrugs. Chad looks over hungrily at the presents sitting in the corner of the room over at the tree. "Ok, I want presents!" He exclaims and everyone laughs at him.

"Ok… I'll go first." Taylor says. Gabriella feels her self snuggle deeper into Troy and then feels his good hand start to stroke her hair. Taylor grabs two different presents. They decided a while ago that they were going to do secret Santa gifts so they wouldn't have to buy one for everyone. Taylor grabs a large box and moves around the room. "I had…" She says and stops in front of Gabriella. "Troy." She says and Gabriella sighs. She feels Troy's arm remove from her and he picks up the box with a smile on his face.

"Alright…" He says and rips the wrapping paper off with his good hand. He then opens the box and smiles. "Thanks Tay!" He holds up a hooded sweatshirt with UCLA written across the chest. He stands up and gives Taylor a hug. "I love it!"

She smiles. "I didn't know what to get you. And I didn't want to ask Chad or Gabriella because I wanted it to be a surprise. But when you called Chad while I was there and told him, I thought it'd be perfect."

"It is, thank you so much." He says and gives her another hug. Gabriella smiles as Troy moves over to his Christmas tree and grabs three presents. He takes the largest one and moves around the room. "I had…" He says and then stops in front of Chad. "Sharpay." Chad's face falls and Sharpay squeals.

"Yay!" She says and Gabriella smiles as she remembers how only a few months ago, she would have been jealous at this. But she knew Zeke and Sharpay really liked each other and she knew Troy really cared about her. Sharpay rips open the paper and opens a shoe box. "They're FABULOUS!" She says as she holds up a high heeled pink shoe that would go perfect with most of her outfits. Sharpay jumps up and hugs Troy and then sits back down with Zeke, looking at the shoes.

"They're Italian." Troy says and Gabriella giggles.

"Thanks Troy!" She says and Troy walks back over and drapes his arm around Gabriella and kisses her forehead.

"Italian huh?" Gabriella asks and Troy shrugs.

"I saw them when I was shopping for your gift and saw they were on sale. Little does she know I only paid like twenty bucks for them." He says and Gabriella giggles.

"So shopping for me huh? Wanna tell me what you got me?" She says and Troy shrugs.

"Nope." He says and then looks back to find Sharpay giving Kelsi a gift.

Kelsi opens hers and then gives a gift to Chad, which was two tickets to a Celtic's game. Chad then had Chloe, who got a brand new pair of track spikes, that Gabriella figures were on sale. Chloe had Jason, and she gave him a pair of tickets to a Redhawks game. Jason had Zeke, and he got him a basketball Xbox game. Zeke had Taylor, and he gave her a pie he made and a set of books that she would probably go through in a week. They all look up to see Ryan and Gabriella smiling at each other. "So we had each other!" She says as she gets up from Troy's grasp to give Ryan his gift. He gives her one also and they smile at each other. "You go first."

Ryan opens the first small present that was sitting on the top and finds a plastic container. He opens it and then laughs. "Your mom's brownies!" He exclaims and she laughs. "Thanks Gabs."

"Open the next one." She says and he opens the long box and pulls out a black baseball bat.

"Alright!" Chad says and smiles. "Now you HAVE to join the team this year."

"Thanks Gabriella." He says as he gives her a hug. "Now open yours."

Gabriella unwraps the present and pulls out a white sweater that came down into a "v". She smiles and looks up at him. "Always have the best taste, huh? Thank you!" She says as they hug again. She runs back to Troy who was shaking his head. "You should learn from Ryan's taste!"

"Or I'll just let you pick out the stuff you want." He says and then the other four couples look to each other to open their presents from each other. Troy picks up the two at his feet and Gabriella picks up a larger box that was at hers. She snuggles back into this chest and her smiles down at her. "I have one for you when everyone leaves too. But this one first."

Gabriella takes the soft package and unwraps it, revealing a bag with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich inside. "Oh Troy." She laughs and sets it out the ground. "I'll be eating that later."

"You better. I spent a whole five minutes making that." He jokes and Gabriella rolls her eyes. "Ok… open the next one."

Gabriella unwraps the medium sized package and gasps. It was a white wooden jewelry box with a picture of them at homecoming in a heart on the lid. Under the heart was engraved, _You Are the Music in Me_. She opens the lid and inside was a spot for rings and necklaces but in a corner was a small boxed off section that hand a "T" in it. "Oh Troy…" She says seriously this time and looks up at him. "It's beautiful. I love it." She says and kisses him on the lips.

"Good. And that…" He points to the section marked with the "T". "Is for that…" He then touches the necklace that was hanging from her neck and she feels herself smile.

"Thank you." She says and kisses him again. Gabriella then lifts up the larger box and hands it to him. "Your turn." He lifts it up and unwraps the present and opens the box and looks inside. His eyes go wide as he pulls out a basketball that was in its case still.

"Dwyane Wade." He states plainly. "You got me an autograph basketball of Dwyane Wade?"

Gabriella nods and sighs. "I was gonna get you LeBraun James, but when I went to the collector's store, they said it was so much more expensive. I'm sorry." She says and Troy shakes his head.

"Why the hell are you sorry? This is incredible!" He says and sets the basketball down. "Thank you…" He mumbles as he pulls her to him and kisses her passionately.

"What'd she get you?" Chad asks which makes them pull apart and his eyes grow wide as he sees the basketball. "Dude! Wanna switch girlfriends?" He asks and Taylor hits his arm hard. Gabriella laughs at him. "Ow!"

Troy smiles and shakes his head, kissing Gabriella again. "Nope… She's all mine."

"I want to do Karaoke." Sharpay says and grabs her brother's hand. "Come on!"

They sing two songs and then the girls all get up and sing "That's What Girls Do." When they're done, they all giggle and then Gabriella's eyes lock with Troy's. She puts a finger up in beckons him over. "No." He says and shakes his head.

She pouts and everyone looks between the two. "Please?" She begs and Troy shakes his head again.

"No way." Gabriella looks down, sad and pretends to be upset. She hears a groan and then looks up to see Troy walking over to her with a small smile on his face. "You owe me."

Gabriella beams as she throws him a microphone and everyone cheers. "We'll work something out." She says and then starts singing.

* * *

His heart beat was in perfect time, she just realized that. Each beat was exactly a second apart from each other. She sighs and snuggles further into his chest under the blanket and stares into the fire. Troy was stroking her hair and they had been sitting like this for about an hour now, since everyone had left an hour and a half ago. The didn't feel they needed to talk about anything. Just being in each other's company was enough. Suddenly, she feels Troy's chest sigh as she looks up at him. "I have one more present for you."

Gabriella shakes her head. "Troy… you've already spoiled me enough." She says but Troy shakes his head.

"No… I really hope you like it." He says and then stands up. He holds out his good hand for her to take and she laces their fingers as she stands. They walk to the back door and Troy lets go and she looks at him strangely. "Turn around." He says and she does. "Trust me?" He asks and Gabriella feels her self smile.

"Always." She responds and feels the scratch of Velcro on her face as he covers both her eyes. "Will you give me a hint?"

"Hell no." Troy responds and Gabriella giggles.

"Please?" She begs and she could feel him blow warm air into her ear, making her squirm.

"No. And if you ask me again…"

"Ok… ok… I get it." She says and smiles. The door opens and he pushes her gently out the door and then she feels the grass beneath her feet as they walk to black top again and stop. "Troy…" She starts but Troy kisses the top of her head to silence her.

"Ok…" He says and removes his hands. Gabriella looks around to find they were in the middle of his backyard on his large basketball court. She turns around and raises her eyebrows.

"Um… Troy?" She starts. "Why are we out here?"

"Your present's out here." He says and Gabriella raises an eyebrow again.

"Um… I don't see anything." She states and looks around. It was a beautiful night out. Although she wished she could have a white Christmas, she knew it wouldn't snow in Albuquerque. She looks back at Troy curiously.

Troy smirks at her. "Look down. "

She follows his orders and looks down at the ground. Sitting there was an envelope with a single red rose sitting on the top. She bends down and picks it up. Written on the envelope in Troy's hand writing was her name. "A note." She says as she turns it over and opens it up. Her hand slips inside and grabs a small note card that was blank. "A blank notecard… how thoughtful." She jokes and Troy scratches the back of his neck.

"Turn it over." He says and Gabriella does. Written in red letters were three very small words. Gabriella feels her hand come up and over her mouth as tears begin to well up in her eyes. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done it this way…"

"Troy…" She looks up at Troy who was looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time and she feels a single tear slip down her face. She jumps into his arms and crashes her lips onto his. He wastes no time as he licks her bottom lip. She opens her mouth to him and feels his tongue swirl around in her mouth. He uses his non-broken hand to pick her up lightly and then sets her back down. He breaks the kiss and rests his forehead onto hers. "I love you too." She whispers and watches as Troy beams back at her.

"You do? I mean… you aren't just saying it back right? Because I can wait… if your not ready to say it…" He babbles and Gabriella places her lips onto his and kisses him passionately again to shut him up.

"You really need to learn when to shut up." She jokes and Troy smiles and places his lips back onto hers. "And I mean it." She whispers when they break apart again.

"I love you." He whispers against her lips. "God it feels so good to say that."

She smiles back. "I love you too."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ok, just to warn you guys, there's only one more chapter left in the story. So thanks so much for reading and reviewing... the last chapter will be up soon! 


	41. Perfect

She feels Troy's hand give her a soft squeeze as they ring the doorbell. Gabriella gives him a soft smile as she looks down at her outfit, making sure it was perfect. She was wearing dark but faded jeans with a white loose cami with a gold belt that went around her stomach. She had on a long gold necklace with two pendants. She was wearing a black open sweater over this and she looks up at Troy who was wearing a blue long sleeved knit shirt with jeans. The door opens and Nate smiles as he opens it further. "Hey guys, happy New Year!"

"Thanks! You too." Gabriella says and gives him a hug. Troy and he shake hands and he leads them further into the house. His house was huge and covered in wood. His backyard had woods in at the edge of the house. "Your house is beautiful." She says and he smiles at her.

"Thanks. Do you guys want something to drink?" Both Troy and she shake their heads and the doorbell rings again. "Ok… I'll catch up with you guys later." Troy leads Gabriella into the house and she hears the music playing in a different room. She knew this wasn't going to be a crazy party like the prehomecoming one, but she thought she remembered Mandy saying about twenty five people would be there. They down the stairs and find that was the source of the music. She sees the gang all standing in a corner as they wave the two of them over. Everyone else at the party says hi to Troy and herself as they walk over.

"Bought time you guys showed up. What were you doing? Making out in your car?" Chad jokes and Taylor slaps his arm.

"Chad!" But Gabriella feels herself blush as her eyes connect with Troy's. That's exactly what they were doing. "I'm so happy you guys decided to come." Taylor says.

"We figured that we would bring in the New Year with everyone." Troy responds and let's go of Gabriella's hand. He wraps his arms around Gabriella's waist in the back and she couldn't help but smile.

"So we heard the news Troy." Zeke says and Jason nods. "The doctor said that you could take that off in three weeks." Gabriella looks down to see Troy lifting up his hand that had the black splint on it as he looks at it in front of Gabriella's body.

"Well… if everything's going the way it is now." Troy responds and then puts his hand back to where it belonged on Gabriella's waist. "Hopefully I'll be back in the game a week before the play offs start." He informs them.

"Good. But for now… I'm starving." Chad says as the guys all agree.

"You're always hungry." Gabriella says and Chad shrugs.

"We're guys Gabi." Troy responds and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"So is that all you do?" She asks. "Eat food… play basketball? And…"

Troy smiles at her. "Think about how gorgeous you are."

"Suck up." She says their joke and Troy smirks at her.

"Hey, if it gets me on your good side." He repeats his line and Chad rolls his eyes.

"Come on, I want to eat!"

Troy turns to Gabriella around in his arms and kisses her forehead. "I'm gonna go with them. You want anything?" She shakes her head and he kisses her cheek. "I'll be back." He informs her and then leaves with the other four guys.

"You guys are adorable." Chloe says and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"You're one to talk." She responds and nods at Ryan. Chloe blushes and shrugs.

"Yeah, I'm so happy. Ryan's just… he's great." Chloe says and Sharpay rolls her eyes.

"Well, what do you expect? He's an Evans!" She states and Taylor sighs.

Gabriella looks over at Troy who was standing with a bunch of guys. She couldn't help but stare at how perfect he looked when he laughed, or how perfectly formed his smile was. To make everything simple, she knew Troy was perfect. And she was so luck to have him. "Gabs… hello… honey wake up!" She sees Taylor's hand waving in front of her face as she tears her eyes away from her boyfriend and looks back at her friends.

"Sorry…" She says and smiles. "Let's go mingle."

The girls talk with a bunch of the other girls who were invited, such as Shannon and Mandy. Gabriella looks at the clock and suddenly realizes an hour had gone by since she arrived. Although she loved her friends, she really wanted to be with Troy right now. "So… I say we start a round of karaoke huh?" Mandy says and gets out the karaoke machine. She stops the music and all of the guys look over to where the girls were sitting on the couch. They make their way back over and Gabriella feels Troy's hands rest on her shoulders. She looks up behind her to see him leaning over the couch staring down at her. "Sharpay, Ryan… show us what you got!"

The Evans twins, just like the other night, get up and sing a song. Gabriella laughs as they dance around also, but when they were finished, they get a round of applause. "Alright, who's next?" Nate asks and Troy leans over and grabs Gabriella's hand over the couch.

"We'll go!" He volunteers and everyone cheers for the two. Gabriella's mouth forms a smile. It was like a flash back to last year when about this time, both of them were forced to go up and sing at the ski lodge. Troy walks around the couch, still holding her hand and leads them up in front of everyone who cheers again.

"What song do you want?" Mandy asks who was working the karaoke machine and Gabriella watches curiously as Troy hands her something that she didn't notice before.

"Just put it in the actual CD player." He says and Mandy follows his orders. Gabriella looks up at him with a smile on her face.

A familiar piano starts and Gabriella feels her stomach flip. She knew he must have burned a CD for himself when he burned her one for homecoming. Troy beams at her and then lifts the microphone up with his good hand while he held her's with his splinted hand.

_Living in my own world… didn't understand_

_That anything can happen, when you take a chance_

She feels the familiar butterflies in her stomach. Even though she could hear Troy's voice on the CD, their microphones were turned up so loud that you could barely here it. She opens her mouth and begins to sing.

_I never believed in, what I couldn't see._

_I've never opened my heart (oh) _

_To all the possibilities_

"I know, that something has changed…" As soon as their voices sing together, Gabriella could almost see the sparks coming out. Her mind flashes back to exactly one year ago when fate forced them on that stage together. It was fated that they would end up together that night. It was also fated that Gabriella went to East High. They were perfect for each other. Suddenly, before she knew it, the song goes by. She doesn't know how, but some how, she winded up with Troy's hand resting on her waist and the arm that wasn't holding her microphone was around his neck. He leans his forehead onto hers. "The start of something new…." They finish and Troy kisses her lips lightly.

The cheers break them apart as they look out and beam. "Ok, who ever can top that has my complete respect." Nate says and everyone looks around to find that no one would dare attempt at it after Gabriella and Troy just gave that incredible performance. Troy leads her out of where you would sing as Chad and Zeke and Jason all stand up.

"We can beat that!" Chad says as Taylor groans. Gabriela feels Troy's arms slip around her waist from behind as all the guys cheer for them.

"What?" She asks as Taylor puts her head in her hands.

"I can't watch!"

Chad grabs his own microphone as Zeke and Jason share the other one. "This is all for you man!" Chad points to Troy who cheers for them again. Suddenly, Zeke and Jason start beat boxing and Chad moves to their music. "It's New Year's Eve and we're all hanging out…" He begins and Taylor closes her eyes.

"I can't listen to this." Taylor complains as Chad goes on with his rap about New Year's Eve. Gabriella and Troy were laughing their heads off along with the rest of the crowd.

Finally, after two minutes, Chad drops the microphone and yells. "WORD!" Everyone continues clapping and cheering as the three guys return back to where the gang was standing. "So…" Chad starts and wraps his arm around Taylor. "Did you guys love it?"

Gabriella couldn't keep a straight face. She busts out laughing along with everyone else. "Um… why don't you let Troy, Gabriella, Shar and I keep with the singing." Ryan says as he tightens his grip around Chloe.

Everyone laughs again. "Zeke, honey, a glass of iced tea would be fabulous." Sharpay says and Zeke walks away. "Make sure he NEVER does that again." She threatens and everyone rolls their eyes, giggling.

Someone turns the TV on and everyone suddenly becomes fixed on it. She looks at the clock to see that it was 11:14. Gabriella feels Troy kiss her neck. She turns around and gives him a soft smile. His head jerks backwards, hinting that he wanted to leave the basement.

"Come on." Troy says. Gabriella nods as Troy slowly backs up, bringing her with him. Everyone else was too focused on their own conversations and the TV to notice the couple leave. They finally reach the stairs and quietly walk up. Troy grabs her hand and leads her to the stairs leading to the top story and they look around. He opens a door and finds a guest bedroom. Another door was closed and Gabriella figures someone had already made their way up here without anyone else knowing. Although her intentions with Troy were different.

Troy leads her inside and then shuts the door behind him. "So…" He says and Gabriella giggles.

"So…" She repeats and wraps her arms around Troy's neck. He rests his on her hips and smiles down at her.

"We're finally alone now…" He whispers against her lips and Gabriella smiles. They had already talked about leaving the rest of the party before they got into the house. Troy wasn't expecting anything from her. They just wanted to be together alone on the anniversary of them meeting.

"And… Mr. Bolton… what is it you have in mind that you want us to do?" She asks playfully and he sighs.

"Well, Miss. Montez, I have something in mind." He whispers against her lips and then presses them against his own. They back up slowly and Gabriela feels her legs hit the bed. Troy slowly leans over and she feels herself lay down on the bed. He backs her up so her head was resting on a pillow as his tongue grazes her bottom lip. She opens her mouth to him and their tongues play tag. They kiss for a while and Gabriella couldn't help but think of only Troy. Gabriella runs her fingers through his gorgeous chestnut brown hair and then breaks the kiss to take a breath of air.

"I'm… the… luckiest guy… on earth." Troy whispers in between kisses in her neck.

"'Then that make me the luckiest girl." She says as he kisses his way back up to her lips and connects them again.

"I love you." He whispers and she smiles up, staring into his brilliant blue eyes that were made for her.

"I love you too." She whispers back and their lips connect again.

She could feel Troy smile into their kiss as his hands run down her waist and back up again. She begins to trace the muscles on his back; something she knew drove him crazy. He moans a little and breaks their kiss apart again to slowly go after her neck again. He bites softly on her sensitive spot and she lets out a small yelp. "Troy…"

He looks up at her and smiles, then goes after her neck once again. Gabriella turns her head sideways to give him better access and looks at the alarm clock that was on the nightstand. 11:56. "Gabi." He moans and then traces his spot and looks at her.

"Troy…" She says and nods at the clock. He looks over and smirks. He kisses her lips lightly and then pulls himself off her. He holds out his hand and she takes it. They walk over to the huge window that they realize was a balcony. Troy opens the door for her and steps outside. The wind was cool so Gabriella crosses her arms and pulls her sweater closer to her body. Troy wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead, instantly warming her up.

"Can you believe it's been a year?" He asks her as they stare out into the open sky and the woods surrounding Nate's backyard.

"No… it feels like just yesterday. But it's been the best year of my life." She says and looks up into his crystal blue eyes that were twinkling like the stars above them.

"Mine too." He says and kisses her forehead. "I can't believe I actually got on without you."

Suddenly, a huge sound blares in the distance. Troy and Gabriella look up. Fireworks were erupting and they hear cheers as they look below to see everyone at the party run outside. "Happy New Year." Troy whispers as he leans down and gives her a tender kiss. She removes her arms from his torso and wraps them around his neck. They continue the kiss for about a minute and then finally pull apart for breath.

"Happy New Year." She whispers back and they look out into the yard once again. She could see Taylor and Chad still kissing along with Sharpay and Zeke and Ryan and Chloe. Kelsi and Jason were in a hug Gabriella felt tears build up in her eyes as she realizes that Troy was everything she could ask for. She sniffs and Troy brings her head up to look at her.

"What is it?" He asks and wipes away a tear that was slipping down her face.

"Nothing." She responds. "Everything's perfect."

Troy raises his eyebrow. "Then why are you crying?"

Gabriella feels more tears slip down her face. She laughs a little as Troy wipes her eyes. "Because everything's perfect." She whispers.

"You're perfect." He whispers and she feels her head shake.

"I'm not perfect." She responds.

He smiles at her and kisses her forehead again. "Yes you are." Gabriella looks out into to the sky to watch another firework light up. She looks down again to see everyone hugging other people, probably wishing them a happy new year. But she didn't want to be with them. She wouldn't want to be with anyone besides the one who had his arms wrapped around her. "You know… I achieved my goal." Troy says randomly and Gabriella looks up at him.

"What?"

He smiles down at her. "On the very first day of school… I told Chad I had only one goal this year." He stops and looks down at her.

"And what was that?" She asks although she already knew the answer.

Troy leans down and kisses her again. "To get you back."

Her eyes well up in tears again as he pulls her into a hug. Everything she ever wanted was in her arms. They had been through so much in the past year. From the musical, to prom, to fighting to stay together during Lava Springs, to breaking up, to Bridget and Nate, to homecoming and to this moment. They had gotten through so much so far. "Well you got your goal." She whispers back through tears as he brings her forward again and kisses her lips.

"You mean the world to me." He says and Gabriella couldn't help but feel even more tears slip down her face. "I love you."

She didn't know what the future brought for them. She didn't know if they would be together this time next year, or if college would break them apart. She had no idea if they would get married, have beautiful children, grow old and die together. How could she? But did it matter? She wasn't worried about the future. Tomorrow didn't matter to her. The only thing that mattered was that Troy Alexander Bolton was staring at her like he was seeing her for the very first time. He had love in his eyes and that was all Gabriella ever needed.

"I love you too." Gabriella whispers back as Troy's lips come down and connect with hers. She closes her eyes and just lives the moment in right now. The fireworks were booming in the background but neither of them noticed. After everything they had been through, their tears, their suffering, everything, this moment made up for it.

Everything was perfect.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really hope you guys liked this chapter and yes, it is the last. I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading this story. I really hope you guys liked the ending. This was so much fun to write and you guys made it. I won't be making a sequal to this, but I'm writing a new story called Time Changes Everything. It should be up shortly and I really hope you guys check it out. It's gonna be "M", but I hope that doesn't stop anyone from reading it. Once again, I hope you guys liked this story because I loved writing it! Thanks so much! 


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